She Said Yes
by aquajogger
Summary: Semi-songfic. "She Said Yes". RxC, RuxTint, Thatchel. It's... It's FINISHED. :in slight shock: And early on I promised that every pairing would have a kiss. I'm proud of myself: I actually remembered to deliver on that.
1. Chapter 1

Dedication: This is dedicated to everyone who's ever attended a school dance.

It's dedicated to everyone who has ever asked another to dance,

And it's dedicated to everyone who's ever been asked.

Always say yes.

bonus dedication to Kat for betaing and posting this for me. I love you, Kat!

Disclaimer: Ok, I don't own Dragon Knights. I don't own any music that may be mentioned anywhere in this fic, including the song lyrics that start each chapter. They are from a song called "She Said Yes", I'm not sure who wrote it, but they own it, not me.

Warnings: Er... Swearing, probably. Sorry, but I don't exactly have a clean mouth, so that rubs off on my writing. Also fluff. Blatant fluff. Not now, but in a few chapters.

:He never gave a lot of thought to dancing:

That particular night was anything but silent.

Music blared festively, and the lighthearted chatter of students filtered out of the two open doors leading into the old school gymnasium. Neon lights lit up the commonly trodden pathways outside the building, and small groups of pupils gathered underneath them, standing or sitting in groups of threes and fours, talking excitedly about the night's events, and shivering in the cold air. Streamers of crepe paper dangled down from gaping doorways that led into the gym, creating a green and white curtain that fluttered invitingly in the cool night breeze. A water fountain was strategically stationed by these doors, a red and flushed crowd of young teenagers surrounding it, waiting their turn in line, or exchanging gossip and urgent advice.

Inside the gym the lighting was poor, the music deafening. Bright multicolored spotlights flashed across the center of the building's floor, currently clear of basketball nets and sports equipment so as to create a satisfactory space to dance, but failed to reach into the dense shadows along it's extremities, where metal bleachers and many seated students resided. On these far sides, the gender gap was taken literally: a wide span of barren open space separated the two opposing sexes, as both cast nervous glances at one another and tried to act indifferent.

Rath was not particularly good at this.

The black haired boy was standing on the top row of the male half of the metal benches, back turned to the section divided off for the females. He seemed to be boredly looking out the open doors, past the long strips of colored paper, to the vague shapes of the people outside, not paying an iota of attention to anyone around him. A pair of long black jeans and a blood red shirt, the imprint of a black Chinese dragon scrawling down the back covered his lean figure. His black hair was cropped short, but the bangs were already starting to grow long, casting spiked shadows across his light-skinned face. A tuft of light hair was present, nestled in among his darker bangs, and was messily pushed off to the side of his face. A single silver hoop hung from the lobe of his left ear, matching the long silver chain around his neck, it's end tucked into the collar of his shirt.

A voice from behind him spoke.

"If you want to ask her so much, so ask her already," it said, exasperated, "Just get it off your chest. I mean; you obviously want to."

His right hand twitched, but he made no other movement as he replied calmly to the boy seated on the row below him.

"What are you talking about, Thats?"

Thats sighed; rolling his eyes and tilting his head back so as to better look at his friend.

"Cesia's sitting there... All alone... Not doing anything..." he hinted.

Rath glanced down at him.

"And?"

Thats sighed.

"So much for being indirect."

He made sure to have eye contact with Rath before speaking again, taking a look deep into dark brown eyes, lit up with a strange crimson glow, as he tried to imprint his message on the other's mind.

"And you should ask her to dance with you," he stated, slightly irked that he had to spell out what should be, what was, obvious.

The first boy glared at the second, then retorted.

"And why should I do that? I don't like her. What's the point? Besides," he added in, "I don't like dancing."

Thats looked towards the sky, feeling his patience with the subject wearing thin, then ran a hand through his red-brown hair, tips neatly spiked in acknowledgement of the importance of the night, and lay down on his back, stretching out along the cool metal bench.

"Fine," he complained, "I give up. You talk to him, Rune."

A third boy, with fair skin and long blonde hair who was sitting on the row where Rath was standing, spoke for the first time.

"That you don't like to dance doesn't matter. The point is that you like HER. Why won't you just show it?"

"I don't like her," Rath muttered, glaring at the colorful streamers hanging above the doorway, their frayed tips dragging in the dust and dirt on the scuffed wooden floorboards, like war banners in defeat.

Rune chose to ignore his comrade's last comment and continued talking.

"I'm sure you two would hit it off, if you gave it a chance, that is. You have a lot in common,"

"Yeah," Thats butted in, still in an irritated mood about his friend's reluctance to say anything, as he grinned evilly at the ceiling, "Like how you're both insane."

Rune sent him a sharp look and continued talking where he had left off; trying to find something to say that would make the black haired teenager finally see the light.

"And a lot of similar interests. You would be perfect for each other. Besides, I know she likes you as well."

"She doesn't," Rath muttered again, still staring straight ahead.

"Yes, she does," Rune persisted, "And what's more,"

"She doesn't," he repeated, a tinge of color rising to his face as mixed words formed in his mind. The colored paper hanging by the entrance was brushed aside as three female figures walked in, all chatting gaily.

"You do as well-"

The color spread as Rath turned around, glaring at the two teenagers seated before him.

"For the last time, she doesn't like me! So will you just cut it out? Stop bugging me about asking Cesia to dance! She doesn't like me; I don't like her. Got that? She could never like me, and I don't like her. I don't like her!"

Thats sat up straight, glancing nervously over his shoulder at the few people now staring interestedly at them. He was about to argue otherwise, when he heard Rune speak instead, and a smile lit up his face.

The blonde grinned.

"Then why are you blushing?"

:n:

Ok, I know I've got a lot of school fics going on, but this one will be brief-compared to the others, so just bear with me, please. All of my ideas seem to take the form of school fics, I'm not sure why. I can't for the life of me think of anything that will take place in the actual DK universe... Except "Wishing", and that Thatchel that I have yet to write..., but the ideas just flow when I place them in a school setting. sighs Maybe I should resign from being the Queen of Thatchel Fangirls and become the Queen of Crazed Schoolfic Writers...


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't know why, but I love doing this thing. shrugs Anyway, I don't own Dragon Knights. I don't own any music mentioned. If you sue me, you are not only incredibly stupid, but you will recieve naught but a long lecture on why Thats and Kitchel will be paired up before the series is over.  
  
Warning: Same as before. Language, I'm not sure how bad, since I have yet to actually write this chapter. I'll get started on it now. (after chapter is written Wow, that was actually clean! is surprised with self No warning, then. Just implied fluff.)  
  
Dedication: As before, much thanks to Kat! She's my beta-er and my poster... Er... I mean she posts things for me since I can't at the moment, not that she's a piece of paper.  
  
A/N: Whoa, I totally did not expect so many reviews for that last chapter. I thought maybe Ginsing and Kat, but... Anyway, THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! Your responses shall be at the end of this chapter. I'm coming home soon, so expect those other fics of mine to get worked on VERY SHORTLY!! I will be SO happy to have word processing again. This is being written out of hotmail. ; Oh, and if the style seems strange, I'm currently reading a book by Somerset Maugham, and my writing style often reflects what I have read last. ; Sorry if this bothers anyone, and I tried not to let it change how this is supposed to sound too much...looks at freshly written chapter Wow, that is short. Still, what do you expect? I wrote it in an hour in an e-mail, so...  
  
:::  
  
But she gave a lot of thought to being asked  
  
:::  
  
The trailing strips of thin colorful paper hanging over the one entrance to the gym were the one decoration on the otherwise plain building.  
  
To the few students actually dancing, for it was a slow song, and these left the dance floor ominously empty, they looked like multi-colored shards of fame; celebrating the partnered couples and heralding days of sugar-sweet high school romance. They brought up half full wishes of tentative words and delicate vows of a wonderfully naive and youthful love.  
  
For those on the sides, however, they were depressing reminders of yet another failed mission, another dance wasted. For these people, the shimmering swiftness of the paper in the breeze was not only irritating; it was painful. It's cheerful rejoicing seemed so out of place with their melancholy, and sometimes sour; moods. It was because of this reason that most opted to look away from them, turning their line of vision instead to the one other distraction: The dance floor. This wasn't quite as bad. It gave you a strange fellowship, to sit there with your friends (or, if you were unlucky, the lack thereof,), knowing that you weren't the only one sitting the dance out.  
  
Knowing that the various people around you, all different looking with different styles and figures and faces, were all the same.  
  
That in the eyes of the person beside you was mirrored the same look as the one in your own. A mixed emotion of despair and jealousy, loathing and loneliness, relief and searching.  
  
Yes, all pairs of eyes were the same.  
  
Except one.  
  
Seated towards the end of the first row, Cesia tugged a strand of curling dark hair behind her ear, casually glancing over the sea of dancing bodies, all swaying to rhythms within themselves, moving in a rough beat to the music.  
  
"It's not like this is going to affect anything," she said comfortingly to the downcast girl beside her, "It's not like this really matters."  
  
They created an odd picture, the two of them.  
  
Cesia in her black mesh shirt, worn loosely over a tank top of the same color, and a pair of long and tight midnight jeans, and combined with her dark wavy hair, flowing free down her back, looked vaguely gothic, while her companion was anything but. The other's name was Tintlett, and she was clad in a blouse of a soft beige, and while she too was wearing fitted jeans, they weren't as corset-like as those of her friend's, and they were a stone-washed and faded blue, very soft to the touch. They both wore earrings, but while Cesia had chosen a pair of silver chains with small crimson drops at their tips, Tintlett had a pair of simple golden studs in the shape of blooming flowers. Their bare feet were the one thing they had in common, since the rules of the dance required all to remove their shoes before entering the gym, a futile effort to preserve the varnished wood.  
  
"It's ok," Cesia's calm voice repeated once more, "Besides, there's still time. The dance isn't over yet."  
  
At these words they both automatically glanced towards the large clock hanging on the wall, barely visible in the dim light.  
  
9:45.  
  
There were fifteen more minutes.  
  
"See?" Cesia pressed onwards, "Still time. Who knows, maybe he'll ask you for the last dance."  
  
They both knew who the 'he' was that she was talking about, even though she didn't say a name.  
  
Tintlett smiled wanely.  
  
"Yeah. Maybe."  
  
The dark haired girl put on a slightly distracted smile.  
  
"That's my girl."  
  
She paused.  
  
"I'm going to go find Kitchel."  
  
Then she stood up and walked towards the doors, leaving her friend on the bleachers.  
  
As she made her way over towards the enterance, she cast a glance over her shoulder towards the dancing couples. About to do the same to the sidelines, to the part where the majority of the male population was seated, she caught herself, tugging her eyes back down.  
  
Once again she spoke:  
  
"It's not like this really matters."  
  
But as she sent a last look to the dance floor, a flicker in her face gave her away, and for a moment, all pairs of eyes were the same.  
  
:::  
  
Kat: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING MY BETA AND POSTING GIRL!!! And... I'm coming back (I'm coming back, coming back, back to da kine...) home VERY soon! I should see you before another week goes by! happy ...Please buy that dvd attachment thing... Please...  
  
insaneoveranime: Ah, I finally have a chance to give you this message. Yes, I will update those other stories... Once I get back home. I have bits of their next chapters written, but that's all on my desktop, so I need access to my computer to finish them...  
  
Hououza: Thank you for the luck, I probably need it. ; is not very lucky  
  
Cesia Illuser: Let me guess what your favorite pairing is... Anyway, UPDATED!  
  
Tsume Yamagata: Actually, I got this idea shortly before I left home ('bout five weeks ago, then...), but never had the song lyrics, so I couldn't work on this idea until Kat allpraiseKat sent them to me at my request.  
  
Ginsing: That would be you, darling. And thanks for not ignoring me! ...When I take over the world (and squish everyone from the class of 2009), how would you like to become the dictator of a fairly large third world country in Africa(India and another t.w.c. in the Middle East are already reserved, so I figure Africa will give you a lot of choices.)?  
  
Brotee: Oh, yay! Another school fic person! is trying to figure out how to advertise her two other school fics subtly and fails Fame and Fortune and Just a Farie Tale are two school fics written by me.. Although JaFT isn't exactly a school fic... More of a fantasy /supernatual romance that is currently just wearing the mask of a school fic. But F&F is quite defintly a SF. You could read them... And review... Hinthint...  
  
Please tell me what you think of this fic! Tell me what you think about me streak of SFs! Tell me what you think about my Thatchel obsession! ...And preferably do it in a review. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: As before, I don't own these lovely, lovely pieces of manliness.  
  
Warnings: Language. Pop music from the mid nineties.  
  
A/N: I'M BAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!! Yeah! Just got in earlier today! Cheer, everyone! -  
  
::Well, he'd never been good at comin' right out and asking::  
  
As the last soft strands of the hypnotic and dreamlike melody drifted away, quickly replaced with a foot tapping faster beat, one of the last few of the night, Thats stood up, stretching softly tanned bare arms. He let them drop down to his sides, drumming his fingers on the supple dark brown pants that he wore, their material showing up dirty black in the faded shades cast by the glowing light in the center of the room.  
  
Catching himself, he jerked his hand back, clenching it into a tight fist in order to prevent the mind-numbing repetition of the music catching a hold of him and lodging in his brain to repeat itself for hours on end.  
  
Snickering as he saw many of the people around him moan at the start of the hyped up lyrics, he turned his attention away from the sounds around him and to the dark haired boy in front of him, no longer flushed red, but looking determinedly away.  
  
"Look, Rath," he fought to control a spreading grin as his friend shifted his gaze to the ground, pointedly attempting to ignore him.  
  
"All I said was that you should ask her. If you aren't going to, fine. Damn stupid, but..." he trailed off as he fought to keep the background music from getting stuck in his mind.  
  
He gave his head a small shake, sending the longer autumn colored segments of hair that hung in front of his ears and around his green eyes, tinted brown in tiny flecks, like leaves slowly changing with the shifting seasons, flying.  
  
He continued speaking, this time to his other friend.  
  
"You're gonna ask someone too, right?"  
  
Rune glanced up at him from where his gaze had been attracted by a loose thread on his long white pants.  
  
"I don't see why it concerns you, but," he looked back down, using his distraction as a neat cover up for his uncomfortable state of mind, "Yes, I am planning on asking someone."  
  
Thats ran a hand through his hair in a oft used nervous gesture, digging the ball of his hand into the bridge of his nose for a moment before letting it continue on it's journey.  
  
"Great for you," he said in a cheerful voice, turning slightly to look over the now writhing masses of dancing bodies below him.  
  
"Why are you interested, anyway?" Rune asked, starting to become confused.  
  
"Ah," the teenager hesitated before answering, "No reason."  
  
His very confidant and carefree look was seen by the other, but so too was the flash of uncertainty that flitted across the edges of his face.  
  
"Thats?" he said, then hitting upon a possible reason for the out of character conflict, asked another question.  
  
"Why don't you ask somebody to dance? It is the last canteen of the year. Why not ask someone for the last song?"  
  
Thats grinned.  
  
"No one to ask."  
  
As he spoke these words, as if on cue, the brazenly energetic song ended; the last fast song of the night.  
  
The bittersweet opening strains of the next piece wafted in and as Rath and Rune shared a nervous glance, the third boy sat down once again on the cold metal bench.  
  
He repeated four syllables under his breath, but even as he was ignored by the others, the green light of his irises turned over and revealed a half formed lie, hidden by his words and smile.  
  
"No one to ask."  
  
:::  
  
Lexzzz: Ah, sorry, forgot to give you a mention before! Yes, Rath is... Rath. ::sweatdrop::  
  
Kat: Yay! Nadil's a BLOODY FREAK but he is hot. And yes, rxc, thatchel, ruxtint. In that order, actually.  
  
Tsume Yamagata: ::twitches with jealousy:: You read book 15 already?!?! And I love RunexTintlett.   
  
Cesia Illuser: Hm. Could I call you Mrs. Rath Illuser? Anyway, it's updated. My, that was fast.  
  
Ginsing: I'm back NOW!! Ok. You shall have your country.  
  
Brotee: ::sweatdrop:: Ok, ok... gimme some time. I gotta get two other couples in here as well...  
  
Hououza: Thank you for the luck! It shall be cherished... 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. I also(this bit is new) don't own the brilliantly funny ATFFS(Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging) series, although I did use a line from the books. I do, however, now own two pieces of Fanart! Thank you, Ginsing!! This is updated, and I'm sorry about the long wait!  
Warnings: Teenagers, gambling, swearing, mentioning of slow songs, little to no plot. I had an idea for plot while rewriting this chapter, however. Does that count?  
  
::  
  
She'd never been given the chance  
  
::  
  
The music suddenly changed to one of a slower tempo, and the contorting masses of students on the dance floor groaned as one, then turned and headed in an unruly stream for the sides, minus, of course, those lucky few who had managed to snag a dance partner to flaunt.  
  
Dozens of sweaty bodies in various outfits sat down on the cool metal of the bleachers, wondering why the fun had to come to an end so soon.  
  
The red second hand of the large wall clock ticked away, quickly, but far too slow for the many sets of eyes that fixated on it, eventually drifting back down to watch the swaying bodies, their names forgotten as they swirled in publicly private dreams.  
  
Their fantasies floated up to form an almost tangible cloud of romance, spreading, and hanging just below the high ceiling and condensing together to hang in a rose-tinted mist, ready to burst at any moment, showering some with rose petals, and drenching others with stinging torrents of despair.  
  
For some reason, the barrage seemed to hit hardest on the edges, casting almost physical blows to the pupils seated on the sidelines.  
  
Outside, however, offered a haven for the weather-beaten students. The cool of the night and of the swiftly flowing water from the fountain an oasis for the sweaty pupils flowing out of the doors to the gym.  
  
Many teenagers had spent their entire nights out here, hidden from the pelting hail and sleet, laughing and taking it easy with their friends, free from both the worry and the exhilaration that dominated behind the open doors, a mere fifteen feet away.  
  
For outside, video games and card games were pushed to the surface, hiding all more uncomfortable subjects beneath an open face. The tension inside was unbearable, but the laughing exterior that attracted so many to flock around the tables and benches out here was not much better. For beneath it's surface was the same interior as was openly displayed within the gym.  
  
This free mingling of genders and cheerful joking was to most just a game, one that was not only set to every individual, but also more important to win than the smaller ones which pointless rules dictated them to pretend to be lost in.  
  
However, this was a game not to all, but simply to most.  
  
There were a few to whom the fantasy was reality, to whom the emulated freedom was true.  
  
And betwixt a crowd of pretenders sat a young girl, one to whom this farce was real. It was still a game, but not of the same sort as the mental dramas those around her were absorbed in, for this was not a game she was forced into, but one of her own choosing.  
  
And like all participants who had drawn a lucky hand, she was having the time of her life.  
  
Kitchel smiled, grinning not only at the laughing faces around her, but at the cards she held in her hand before her shining face.  
  
She placed one hand on the table, clenching it into a fist as she carefully watched the face of the girl across from her, green eyes scanning the other's expression as she placed her hand face down on the table top.  
  
Her smirk widened.  
  
That was one talent she had, she was incredibly good at telling when another was bluffing, was lying. This skill would explain the large number of items at her elbow, varying from small bills and loose change, to collectable cards and sticks of gum. She wasn't picky, whatever they wanted to bet with, she was willing to take.  
  
After all, Kitchel always played to win.  
  
And sure enough, a few minutes measured by loud jokes and elated giggles later, the tanned girl had added a few more items to her quickly growing stash.  
  
"All right!" she exclaimed with a wide grin, pulling her prizes towards her and doing a brief inventory, "Who's up for another round?" Kitchel asked the students around her, meager winnings at best next to them, nothing compared to what that single teenaged girl had received.  
  
As multiple people piped up with various degrees of uncertainty evident, a new voice spoke over the hubbub.  
  
"Kitchel!  
  
"Hm?" she twisted around in her seat, quickly spotting a slim girl with long black hair frantically waving to her, trying to get her attention.  
  
"Oh, hey, Cesia!" Kitchel said, gathering her stuff and shoving it into a small black backpack as she stood up, deciding that she had played cards long enough for one night, and that a talk with her friend would be a welcome change of pace.  
  
Even if you play to win, it does get rather boring after a while.  
  
"What up?" Kitchel asked, squeezing through the crowd and managing to find a small space in which to stand next to the other girl.  
  
"Feeling goth, are we?" she jokingly said, motioning at her friend's attire.  
  
Cesia rolled her dark eyes.  
  
"At least I dressed nicely for the dance. You're wearing the same clothes you wore to school today!  
  
Kitchel glanced down at herself, taking in blue jean shorts, a cream baby-tee, and a pair of slightly elevated slippers.  
  
"Your point?  
  
Cesia laughed, giving the other a friendly shove.  
  
"You know tonight is supposed to be special! A school dance! The last school dance of the year, as well. What are you doing hanging outside? Come on in," her tone slipped slightly, "Tintlett and I have barely seen you all night.  
  
Kitchel rolled her eyes at the other, but relented.  
  
"OK, don't sound so depressed, after all, we're gonna see each other plenty after this, you know. We still spending the night at Tint's?  
  
Cesia nodded, then reached forward and grabbed her friend's hand tightly, pulling her towards the gaping doorway leading into the darkened building, fighting against the flow of the many pupils exiting; as all those who refused to stay inside during yet another sappy romantic song poured out into the night.  
  
"Whoa, wait!" the brown haired girl said, digging her heels in, "Let me put my stuff down first, Cesia. I'll be in in a moment," seeing the skeptical look that was being given to her, she added, "I swear. Honest. I mean, why not? Just let me put this away," she said, gesturing towards her stuffed to overflowing bag.  
  
The black clad teenager locked eyes with her for a moment, then released her arm, briefly informed her of where she and Tintlett were sitting, and joined two other acquaintances in boldly reentering the gym.  
  
Kitchel sweatdropped.  
  
"Sheesh...  
  
With a shrug, she turned around, looking for a safe place to leave her belongings, preferably with someone she knew.  
  
As she pushed past numerous students, a thought that had been nagging at her all night pushed it's way back into her mind.  
  
"Qu'est-ce que le point?" she asked herself, speaking aloud, a bad habit she had gotten into recently, "It's a friggin' dance. Who cares? I don't.  
  
Unbeknownst to her, a very similar phrase had been uttered by one of her close friends, not ten minutes prior.  
  
There was, however, one large difference.  
  
When spoken by one it was part of the game most played, a way to cover the hand they attempted to lay face up on the table.  
  
When the other recited it, it wasn't due to the rules of the game.  
  
It was the game.  
  
And since fact and fantasy commonly overlap, since playing to win can also mean winning to loose, what other people saw in her as a well handled bluff was no more than the simple truth.  
  
Her game had no rules.  
  
Kitchel laughed to herself, seeing a group of boys edging each other on, trying to convince one of them to ask a tall brunette standing obliviously by the drinking fountain to dance.  
  
"I don't like anyone. Well, I've had crushes, sure. But I've never actually fallen for someone," she mused to herself.  
  
Her game had no rules.  
  
No rules... But for one.  
  
Always play to win.  
  
"Oh, well, no worries, right?" she grinned, hoisting her bag into a more comfortable position on her back as she passed by a couple currently engaged in a blatant breaking of the school's PDA rules just outside the girl's bathrooms, "No tears, no pain.  
  
And when one was playing to win...  
  
"I don't care.  
  
This was spoken truthfully, but then so was what she said next.  
  
Kitchel paused in her walking, looking over her shoulder thoughtfully, not at the two liplocked teenagers, but at the young boy, red in the face, tentitivly holding his hand out to the girl at the water fountain.  
  
Her voice softened.  
  
"I wish I did.  
  
...One was also playing to loose.  
  
:::  
  
Kat: ::agrees with what Thats, Rath, and Rune should do:: But, unfortunately, they are spazzes. Oh well, they'll get around to it... sometime... Say hi to Gil for me.  
  
Brotree: Ooooh. Sorry for the torture. Gimme a few more chapters, here...  
  
Tsume Yamagata: ::turns to stone and cracks into little itty-bitty pieces:: . . . Not fair. . . ;; ........Oh, well, at least I still have books to look forward to reading!  
  
Lexzzz: Actually, I could have updated this story a few days ago. I just decided to wait a bit, you know... See if anyone else would review that last chapter. D  
  
Charna: Urg, band camp tomorrow... I have to be at the airport at FIVE THIRTY in the morning! Whaa!::cries:: ...And how did we get on the topic of school books, anyway?? (And no, you are not assuming too much.)  
  
Hououza: Tsume Yamagata did.::points at T.S. like a little kid getting someone else in trouble:: Thanks for the wishes and luck!  
  
Ginsing: ACK!is crispy Not only have I been turned to stone, but I've been flamed! TT lol. And YES!!! SNOG WAR!!!!::high fives:: Thanks for the gifts!  
  
Vuirneen: Oh, my goodness... It's Tetheus' spokeswoman... o.o Thank you for reviewing, I'm so glad you like it! n-n And I realized that I have a very short non-AU posted, and am currently working on another one that is much longer. It would be done by now, but... I share a computor with my parents... And my dad deleated it... ÂÂ;  
  
Ye-Won: Ok!! Continued!!  
  
Harbinger Loki: Whoa, another famous person! o.o Yes, I know Thats' chapter was uber-short. Ginsing "flamed" me for it. n.n;; But, at risk of sounding like a random spaztic fangirl, I'M YOUR NUMBER ONE FAN!!! o I LOVE your stuff!! Plus, you wrote the first Thatchel I ever read. ::bows before Harbinger Loki shrine::  
  
Lisa: Wow, mad reviewing spree that was... o.O; Quite thankful, yes I am...::bows before the smart one that is Lisa:: 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own the manga "Dragon Knights" or the song "She Said Yes"! I think this gym belongs to my school. However... This does not mean I own it, either...

Warnings: Teenagers, song lyrics. Parts of this were written at band camp! =D

::But something moved him across that old gym floor::

The night darkened into a coiling mass of silver blades wrapped black silk, their dampened tendrils snaking down from the heavens in a shroud of midnight fears and fantasies.

They leaked through the open doors and windows of the large gymnasium, penetrating it's thick walls and soaking up the laughter; both fake and all too real.

A muffled silence filled the gym.

Shifty bodies stood and casually, with an unmistakable air of nervousness, headed towards the rows of seats, those that housed the other gender.

Most were able to neatly contain their awkwardness, but there were a few; a small dark haired boy who stumbled over his own feet, a lanky Asian teenager who almost went up to the wrong girl, a freckled youth who could be heard muttering the words he had chosen to say under his breath, that let their sudden worries get the better of them.

For fear was spread thickly across the room.

It created a wave of tension that washed across the shaking floor, drenching all that it touched, drowning them beneath it's icy currents.

Nagging doubts suddenly seemed to appear, although they had been, in reality, hidden in the shadows of their minds all night.

A lucky few were spared of the rushing spray.

And yet a few more were able to rinse it's salty grime from their faces, rising to the challenge that their own egos and pubescent feelings(and, in some cases, raging hormones,) had created and set before them.

Besides, it wasn't a matter of keeping the fear away indefinitely, just of holding it at bay for the next few minutes.

Just of shielding themselves from it's harsh blows until they had crossed the mere twenty feet that separated the two sexes.

These rare exceptions would stand, wiping traces of doubts from their minds. They would wring the fear from their souls, finding themselves able to instead clearly focus on the one goal before them.

Crossing twenty feet of ground.

Rune sighed.

He wasn't one of those lucky people.

And he never knew that twenty feet could look so far.

He could feel the salty ice water that had been poured over him, freezing him to the spot, clinging to every insecurity he had and enlarging them, turning his self image into a bent and twisted picture, and throwing his self esteem out the window.

A furtive glance across the room showed him what he had both hoped for and prayed against.

There was a pretty girl with long curling blonde hair, dressed in her best dance clothes, sitting by herself on the first row on the far end of the girl's half of the bleachers. She looked down at her lap, then out at the people passing by, then finally tilted her head upwards, looking to the high gym ceiling.

There was a wide berth of space around her; both her friends were missing.

Now would be the best time to ask her, when there was the smallest audience possible.

But still Rune found that he was unable to move, drenched to the core.

He saw people around him rise, albeit shakily, and walk off the bleachers, heading to find a dance partner or date.

And still he found himself glued to the cool metal bench, tethered down by a steel chain of liquid fear.

His heart beat in his throat, a voice in his head telling him to hurry, to ask for a dance-just one-before the night was over.

Telling him that he would regret it otherwise.

That she would regret it otherwise.

But that voice was drowned out by the roar of the crashing waves, pulled away by the rough tides.

"Rune?"

His dampened hearing and frightened gaze picked up the sound of his friend's voice.

"You gonna ask Tintlett to dance, Rune?"

His voice seemed to be stuck in his throat.

"Rune?"

It was no use. He couldn't do it.

He felt like he was drowning at the bottom of a pool of melted flames, stark still as the smell of fear filled the room in front of him.

The world grew hazy around him, all shapes disappearing into gray mist, as the snaking smoke of quicksilver wrapped around all before him. It stopped short, however, of obscuring the girl in his direct line of sight, instead creating a sort of tunnel vision, one through which only she was visible.

Her face was still tilted skywards, almost unnaturally blue eyes focused on some unseen object with startling intensity.

Rune was entranced.

And then the spell was broken, settling in it's place a new aura of magic, as the azure lights he had found himself drifting in lowered themselves from the heavens.

He watched, freshly spellbound, as her gaze drifted slowly across the dance floor, resting once or twice upon various dancing couples, then continued on it's languid journey.

His heart suddenly skipped a beat.

He was no longer drowning in molten flames of bright ice.

Instead, he found himself lost in twin stars made of the warm limpid waters of tropical seas, flecked with a white light, the glow of the moon on her almost questioning face.

Their eyes had met across the span of distance, and the wave of fear that had drenched his body to the soul slowly melted away, leaking off his inner self, and taking the biting nervousness with it.

And then a sense of urgency awoke in him, a strange new pride began to burn, telling him to get a move on, to walk the twenty feet necessary.

To ask her to dance.

Rune took a deep breath.

And he stood.

And suddenly...

Twenty feet didn't look quite so far.

Kat: Yes! Everybody must go to our site! ...Once we actually get DK stuff up! Yeah, I know it got messed up.::glares at :: We are NOT getting along too well at the moment...::mutters something under breath that sounds strangely like "sabotage"::

Ginsing: No, I didn't do anything bad. ...Unless you count making that crap tea as bad. I DID write "And this one time, at band camp..." on my Tenors and Euphs shirt, however.

Lisa: Yup! This chapter was Rune and the next is gonna be everyone's favorite Elven princess! =D

Yokai Cesia(and Chi): Ok, updated! This chapter is fairly long... Good enough?(And yes, they will. Well... Yes and no, actually. D Don't worry, I've got it all planned out...)

Harbinger Loki: Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! POCKY!!!::munches pocky:: I'm writing more, but am slowing down as school as started! x-X; Oh, and Thats, Kitchel and Ringleys say THANKS for the pocky!(Actually, Ringleys says thanks, Thats says to send more, and Kitchel says that he's an idiot, but...) Tintlett thanks you for the salad as well!(::Rune has given the salad to chibi spirit form Tintlett::)

Rath Lover: Whoa, dancing? o-O; Cool! n-n It's updated, just as you requested!

ShadowDown: Yes!! My 40th reviewer! Like I promised, since I now have 40 reviews, I'm updating!! nn Be honest... Did you review just to get me to update?


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: ¡Yo no tengo los "Los Caballeros de los Dragones"! ...Yo no sé... Yo quiero Thats. VV

Warning: Teenagers, fluff(as always...), disclaimers in Spanish!

A/N: Two things. First, I've never attempted to do a Tintlett character sketch before, so please understand that I'm trying my goshdarned best, but have never even thought about doing this before!! I've reread all her scenes, paid attention to the way that she and Rune interact, and tried to get a grasp on her, but it hasn't quite clicked yet.

Secondly, why is it that there are EIGHT(not counting myself) authors on fanfiction that write Thatchels?::fuming:: Eight. And most of said authors only wrote a Thatchel in as a background pairing.::fuming more:: I'm trying to find twelve authors of Thatchels by December, so, please, if you want a NICE MENTION and DEDICATION, then, PLEASE, SOMEONE, get a Thatchel out(Yes, I've resorted to begging. That is how dire this situation is. Pathetic, I know.)!

::When fear was holding fast::

Harsh yellow lights bore down upon those few people designated to work the night as DJs, music changers, blarers of loud noise.

They were the one lit spot in a room of shadows and mist, a penetrating spot of brilliant light admidst the fog.

It was where many eyes gravitated once they could no longer bear to stare at their friends upon the dance floor, or search fruitlessly over the still-crowded bleachers.

Like moths to flame, their gaze drifted drunkenly towards it, latching on to the reminder of reality brought by blasting music and bright lights. The clashing scene of adults at work serving as a reminder that the world didn't center on this one night, that other things held more importance, and that the out come of the dance would not, realistically, have any effect on their lives.

There was a soothing truth in the artificial fire.

But however much one found oneself drawn to it, all who glanced upon it had to look away, for the shining brightness etched painfully sharp designs into your eyes.

Tintlett averted her gaze, drawing her line of vision away from the loudspeakers and sleek laptop computers that made up the mechanical music system.

The dark of the night might be filled with weakened hopes, but an old and worn wish was better than the blinding truth others attempted to oppose upon you.

A reassured smile flitted across her lips, then disappeared as she turned her head from side to side, searching for any trace of her two friends. Light blue eyes traced over the thinking crowds passing by, alighting upon familiar faces, then drawing away when they did not find what they were searching for.

Her hands played with one another in her lap, tracing patterns in the faded material of her jeans and drawing designs across their smooth skin.

There was still no sign of her friends.

And suddenly she felt alone.

Her face tilted downwards to examine her shifting hands and smooth pants, eyes trailing over unimportant details in a vain quest of distraction.

Faint white lines traced across the faded blue, crisscrossing over one another, then drifting away into the rippling waves of the winter ocean. Fair skin turned to sea breeze, drawing lines of delicate waiting across the ice.

And the sun...

Her face slowly rose from her plaited hands, twin depths of summer's liquid warmth finding themselves drawn towards the fire captured in small glass cages, each rounded, and each glowing with a clear intensity.

"No."

She smiled, laughing at herself, at her foolishness.

Lights.

That's all they were.

But still...

"No," she softly repeated the word to herself, a breath of wind in the stifling room.

There might be a soothing truth to be found in flame, but one should savor the ocean while it lasted.

Tintlett allowed that thought to drift through her mind before acknowledging both it's overly poetic qualities, and it's sheer naivety.

Reality came only with maturity.

An overwhelming temptation crept around the empty spaces surrounding her, pushing her sight and mocking her thoughts.

See the truth.

She wavered, then slowly, determinedly, turned her face skywards, looking among the ceiling in a last defense of hope.

Her eyes, previously narrowed in concentration, suddenly widened.

There was a window, small, but clear, in the ceiling above her. The velvet cool of the sky was visible through it's surprisingly polished surface, smooth and almost reflective black showing a contrast to the captured burnt of dead wishes below.

The dark was pinpricked with beaming stars, ones not constricted in cages or wrapped in glass. Their light cast playful shadows across the sea of night, a dance of water and flame. The show was blinding, but not in the way of the fallen stars closer to hand.

And there, in the middle of the celestial glory, was a silver full moon.

Tintlett watched, amazed, at the seemingly ordinary sight.

A moonbeam fell from the sky, alighting upon her face, casting an almost tangible bridge between it's world and hers. Tethering her for just another moment.

Just another moment before the sun rose.

Before the sun rose and the stars fell.

She smiled.

And was suddenly filled with the urge to laugh, a brilliant bubbling of joy, bursting with perfection by it's utter naivety.

Reality came only with maturity.

But this night was for the young.

A giggle escaped her lips, quickly lost in the deafening din of silent footfalls and quiet music.

Tintlett smiled.

And she turned her gaze from the heavens, casting not a glance at the sun-spotted truth hidden until desperation caused one to open their eyes to the blindness of life, but instead letting her eyes, now filled to the brim with the light of the moon, ease their way across the room.

To dreams of golden cloudless skies and fields of fallen stars placed back in the shadows of simple fantasies.

Blue met blue.

And the fire shattered into a beam of moonshadow.

:n:

Kat: ...Poetry? What poetry? I have fics and I have AIM bios... No poetry.

Harbinger Loki: Heehee... "Harbinger"... That was an English word last year. I was like, "Oh! I know that one!! LOKI!!"! n-----n It was fun... ANYway...

Rath:thanks you for the lollipop and sucks on the sucker

Cesia: blinks at fido Er... Thanks.

Ringleys:currently slow dancing with pocky stick(Hey, you think this is bad... You should've seen him when they were playing "Shake Ya Tailfeather" Xx;;;)

Thats:jumps and dives into pocky

Kitchel:sitting cross-legged on ground, happily playing with theify set

Me:munching on pocky and drinking strawberry-- no, orange-- no, strawberry soda

¡¡Tú nesisitas acabar EL THATCHELO!! XO

(You need to finish THE THATCHEL!! XO)

insaneoveranime: No, you reviewed for the first chapter! D Tell your sister that she's my new best friend. Well... Not really, but, um... Tell her that some random girl she's never met adores her favorite pairing and thinks she's cool beans for being a fellow insane Thatchel fan! DD

Hououza: Pocky, n. Pockysnack food that one eats when watching Gundam Wing marathons, reading Dragon Knights fanfiction for twelve hours straight, and writing nonstop all day. PockyGod. (And thanks for the luck and wishes!!)


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights!! I don't own the song She Said Yes!! And I'm not sure whether this really counts as a songfic!!

Warning: Hm. Rath-kun's chappie. Swearing, probably. And... F-L-U-F-F!! Come on... You know you want it...

A/N: I wrote this right before(and after) the ninth grade dance. I did it in a slightly different way, with much more dialogue, and much less description than normal. I think that's because this IS Rath's chapter. And although he may be adorably sure of how much he likes Cesia at the current point in the series, the Rath from my story is slightly less... Emotionally advanced. Think Rath in book 13. He's incredibly cute, but he needs a very strong push in the right direction if he's to get anything done relationship-wise.

This book-13-Rath-ness led to a large amount of his chapter dealing with Thats, as well. I apologize for our little thief... Er... STEALING some of the spot light, but I think he deserved some amount of payment for all the good he does in this chapter. n-

::And to his surprise, the words came at last::

He stood.

Golden rivers of amber light flowed swiftly down the boy's back, falling in a loose pool, neatly tied with silver string. They cascaded past the supple white of his shirt, ending above his loose blue jeans. Their longest tips brushed full inches above the worn material.

Rune was standing on the second to the top row of the bleachers, and Rath balanced behind him, mask precariously in place.

"Rune."

It was Thats.

As the words left his mouth, he turned his head, drawing in a steep breath as he saw their friend descend, steadily walking away.

"Well."

He grinned, scrambling to keep his own image intact.

"I guess he is gonna ask her."

Rath glanced at him, not paying attention.

Listening instead to the pull of conflicting worlds.

Twin battles raged within his mind, a swirling vortex of fire and ice, each hissing their own conflicting and defensive messages.

"I..."

It was as if he was standing apart, watching his own breathing quicken and his eyes dart unseeingly across the dance floor. He heard himself speak, but felt no control over what was being said.

"I want..."

"Huh?"

The strange sensation of a separation of soul and body suddenly ended, and Rath found himself standing inside his own skin once again, a pair of curious green eyes, messily hidden behind slightly-too-long bangs alighting upon his own.

He felt the blood start to rush to his face as his incoherent words registered within his mind. Gods, he felt stupid.

"Never mind," he muttered, averting his gaze from that of his friend, turning his face down to glare at his shoes.

"Wait, what were you gonna say?" Thats pressed, attempting to look the other boy in the eye.

Rath shook his head, black hair flying about his face as flickers of red light edged from his mental vision.

"Nothing."

"Come on. What was it?"

"I--Nothing."

The second teenager let out a burst of air in a relenting sigh.

"Fine. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to," he said, falling silent, much to the relief of the other.

"But you know..."

Rath winced. Oh, no.

"You really should ask Cesia to dance," he quickly raised his hands, palms up, in a show of peace as the dark haired boy slowly turned to look at him with a fed-up gleam in his dark eyes.

"Wait, I'm not just saying that, ok? I mean it," he grinned at his friend, "You should. I think she'd really like it."

Rath sighed and turned away, determinedly focusing on a point on the wall, high above the door.

Blue light swirled through his sight, crimson fire dancing, almost in reach, at the edges of his vision. The deadly chill ate at the air around his body.

He somehow found himself talking, once again, without his own consent.

"You don't get it."

Thats furrowed his brow.

"What d'ya mean? I get that Cesia likes you. And I damn well get that you like her."

Rath shook his head again, slower this time. It was more of a weak attempt to clear the darkness than to show a disagreement.

"It's... Not that."

He was speaking slowly, carefully forming the individual words as if uncertain of what would happen if they were to break, shattering upon his tongue.

"It's just..." he trailed off, yet again unable to put what he wanted to say into an understandable sentence.

Thats watched, fascinated, as the other boy shifted through a complex rhythm of emotions, all flashing through his normally tinted irises. Shining through were the inner depths of the other boy that Thats would normally have to strain to catch even the merest glimpse of. He was mesmerized, an active viewer watching along the rims of an active arena.

The flames slowly licked higher.

Thats grinned.

"Look, Rath, you may not admit it, but it's damn obvious. You're crushing on Cesia. Badly. Now," his mischievous smile broadened as Rath opened his mouth to hotly deny it once again, "if you still think I'm wrong, then just say so. But first, I want you to look," he waved a lazy hand across the crowded room, "at her."

Rath's eyes widened, automatically following his friend's hand to where it pointed. It landed upon a teenaged girl with long dark hair, slowly stopping and sitting down upon a recently vacated metal bench. Her fair skin seemed to shine under the harsh lighting peeking through the clouds of shadow, and he could feel a warmth slowly enter the surrounding chill.

He stayed like that for a long time, unable to break the spell.

Then, suddenly, it was shattered into millions of tiny shards as before.

"I'll take that silence as a 'no', then."

Confused, he turned around to face his friend, no longer seated behind him, but now standing upright, stretching his arms behind his head.

"Hell, if you are sure you don't want her..." Thats trailed off, and a careful observer could mark him rushing through similarly pieced together story lines, trying to chose the one best suited to the task at hand.

"I'm gonna ask her."

Thats relished the look of utter shock portrayed on his comrade's face.

"...What?"

The word was tense with the strain of keeping a rising voice level.

He shrugged.

"Well, if you don't want to ask her, then why can't I?" carefully noticing the suspicion starting to wind around his friend, he added in, "I mean, she's pretty hot. Haven't you noticed? Niiice figure."

He was enjoying himself by this time, scouring his mental banks of words for just the right phrases, and mentally laughing at the shocked look frozen on Rath's face.

"But..." Rath fumbled his words, teetering desperately on a paper-thin ledge between ruin and change.

"You don't get it..."

"Don't get what?" Thats fought to keep from smirking, "I asked if YOU like her. Several times, in fact," he mused, "And you said no. So, why can't I ask her? Geeze, it's not like I necessarily want to ravish her under the bleachers, or something."

Cesia.

Thats. Ravish.

Bleachers.

Cesia.

These words registered in Rath's mind in a sudden whirl of ochre as Thats finally cracked. The brown-haired teenager collapsed into himself, his hands pressed into his thighs, as he doubled over, biting his lip to keep from howling with laughter.

Rath didn't notice.

And when Thats finally got himself under control once more, ready to continue his game of charades, he straightened.

Looked around.

And caught sight of a tuft of black hair with a small streak of white, disappearing into the crowded room.

He smiled a fading grin.

"Damn obvious."

Kat: Ooh, being awake that early sucks. .( Hm... Well, I have that thing that I dreamt up... And... Yeah. I think that's it. CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!! n--n Ok, yeah. nn;; ::secretly--kinda--enjoys writing overly descriptively in every chapter:: Hm. Well, this chapter was a bit varied. Plots, yo. GIL IS CWOOT!::glomps Gil:: Get well soon! O

(And no, it isn't getting annoying. I love rambling!)

Elfin Kagome: Well, the thing is... You are already one of those eight. VV; ...But I love you for the Thatcheliness anyway!!

Raesia Ar--Ginsi--Krist-- ARGH!!: ;;;; ...Sorry... Confused... ;;;;;; Anyway, poetry? Ok, these can be my poetry. non Really? Like you? I got it right, then!::has somehow started thinking GinsingTintlett:: And::glomps::, I know. I want one too. v-v

Hououza: ::has just reread her own description of pocky and finds it hilariously stupid:: Thank you, and I will use those wishes and luck on my tests! D

Insaneoveranime: No, as you can see, this chapter was about Rath(Even though I tried to trick you at the beginning...). DD So you DID get your RxC mentioning!! DDD Hmm. You could always PRETEND to be... Er... However old they require you to be. I believe I did that, but I'm not entirely sure... I might have just made it, since I signed up a week or so after my birthday. And, ok, you can be an honorary Thatchel writer!

Kathlyn: Ho-Ho...::mondo sweatdrop:: It's an AU. As in, they are in our world... They are humans...(Wait, Kitchel's saying something about Rath and Thats being from Jupiter... Mostly likely she's kidding. Ignore her.) It's okay if they are in school, because they are in an AU... ::sweatdrop::

Capella: ROTFLMAO. ...Sorry. "Tintlet's #1 Fan-Other-Than-Rune". I found it funny. nn; I dreamt about getting book 16. Then I got it. Like when I dreamt about getting book 13. ...Mind, my subconcious' versions were SO much cooler than the actual books... My subconscious had given book 13 a scene surprisingly like the one with Kitchel and Ringleys in the caves when they are talking about Tetheus... Only it had added in bits about Thats, as well. And then book 16? Whoo, boy. I LOVED that mental-version. About half of it was flashbacks. ::stares, open mouthed at flashbacks:: My God, I seriously want to see that in an actual Dragon Knights book... ...Goddess? ...Seriously? ::glomps:: I LOVE YOU!

Lisa: Yay! You(My other Tintlett model...) think it's IC, too! ::uber-happy::

Animegoil: Hah, if you thought Rune was bad... Venezuelan! Yeah! I'm... Not Venezuelan! I would say I was Hawaiian, but as I have neither Hawaiian blood, nor do I count myself as "local"(I don't speak pidgin and I go private school. Whoa, I say "pidgin", and my grammar goes weird. oO;), I suppose I'm just America. VV ...I named Komo's hat La Paz, however. n-n It tutors me in Spanish!

Firey Flames: Whoa, impatient, no? nn;

Kudos to Thats. n-n

Review, please!

All who review shall be greatly loved and cherished by a poor little freshie...


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. I, um, actually don't own much. I DO however, own a copy of each book that has been printed into english!

Warnings: Not sure, as I write this bit before writing the story. Oh! RxC! Eaaargh...:about halfway done with fic:: Damnit. I dun wanna get flamed, but I think Cesia's a tich OOC. ::mutters:: I really don't want to fix it, as that would involve rewriting a lot of this, but... Rath's IC, but I'm not sure about Cesia. ::thinking:: Ok, um... Just... Don't complain too much, because it's not THAT bad, ok? (Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think it's as bad as I originally thought it was.)

Damn, this chapter is UBER short. Sorry...

A/N: Hee. This will be the last time I update this story until December. Aren't I nice? Getting the RxCness taken care of first?

::And she said yes::

Cesia ran her hands down the slick metal of the bleachers, shivering involuntarily as the cold came into harsh contact with her smooth hands.

She smiled at the feeling.

The cheap tinfoil encircled her heart, creating a cage of steel.

Bars which nothing she possessed could break. Not now. Not tonight.

She was safe.

The music of the song wrapped around her, suffocating, and she slid it through her mind, soaking up individual words, but not their meaning.

Well, here it was. The last dance of the night. Tintlett was gone.

Cesia had caught a glimpse of her blonde friend leaving the stands with her old schoolgirl crush, and Kitchel was still nowhere in sight.

Probably still outside, laughing at nothing. Meaningless dreams.

The steady bass beat in her slowly deafening ears, and the world lost all time, sliding into a frozen orb of sound and sight.

Cold perfection.

And then...

A ray of flickering warmth penetrated her crystal sphere, the glow of flames whispered beneath cracking layers of frozen ice.

She blinked her eyes wide, shaking off the falling dust and for all appearances reawakening to the movement of the world.

And she heard her name called.

"Cesia."

The sound broke the mirage completely, and everything jerked back into normal time, the gray fading away behind her eyes.

"...Rath?"

Her voice was startled, questioning, not daring to hope.

Not wishing for pain.

But there he was, standing before her, nervously scuffing his foot against the gym floor, face tilted to the ground, unable to hide a tinge of red.

"Um..." his fists balled, clenching tightly at his sides, wringing the air that slid through his fingers. "I-- Would you..."

Her heart fluttered against her will, beating its wings against the bars of her chest, struggling to break free. She beat it back down, but not quite as harshly as before, her eyes too fixated upon his slightly shaking form to pay attention.

Rath took a deep breath, and Cesia found herself drowning in the music once more, engulfed by chords and notes and harmonies. Only this time, she found herself able to breathe admist the confusing swirl of lyrics.

A smile of tentative relation to their words wrapped around her soul. Not tightly, not clinging to her, drenching her, as it would to one of the golden rimmed dolls on the dance floor, but simply... Touching. Allowing room for hope in this morbid hour.

"What is it?" she breathed, not catching his gaze as his line of vision was still glued to the floor, but instead grabbing his determination.

His face flushed to a burning shade of crimson, mimicking the rapid pace of the blood pounding in his ears.

"...Would you... Like to dance?"

Her heart leapt, and for the first time that night, she made no attempt to stop it. The bars gave way, and she gave a smile.

"Yes."

:n:

Animegoil: I know EXACTLY what you mean! ...That's why he's taking psychology in school. :nodnod: He is. I'll show you his schedule sometime. I think I already said this, but I plan to put up a new schedule in my bio everytime I update Fame and Fortune. Just tell me who's you want to see first! :whispers: Yeah, I think Rath was trying to say something, too. He just won't tell me what it really was. Stupid Rath.

Hououza: Ha, he was considering beating up Thats. But he didn't. Perhaps that is for the better. More time to dance with his girlfriend. OW!:gets hit by Rath: Geeze, you hit me but not him!? Thanks for the luck! I've survived my first quarter of high school, and I've got good grades! ...Except for Spanish. Let's ignore that class, shall we?:ignoresignoresignores:

Elfin Kagome: Yup! You are! The...:counts: 21st of December is your day. nn Little Red Riding Hood? Lol!

Kat: Haha! RxC! I have paused in doing my ISS homework to finish this story because... I really got bored of finding salient points...

Jaid Skywalker: Jaid Skywalker?! It's you! :hugs: Sorry for abandoning my Gundam Wing story!! I just... Got really busy and distracted and... :fumbles for decent excuse: Plus, my last chapter only got one review. :sticks out tounge: I've been really busy with my Dragon Knights stuff, though, as you can see. I've got lots of stuff up here!

Isis-Ishtar123: Yeah, they're coming. I know what I'm doing for them. More so than any of the others, actually.

Sarehptar: XD Glad you found that funny. It wasn't really soon, but it is updated.

insaneoveranime: o.o Thats thinks you are God.

Kat Ho: :laughs at the spazziness: Dramatic! :strikes a pose:

Capella: Thatchel!! :high fives: Yes, I agree. Thats is SKILLED. :sighs: God, I envy him. Like in book 16. That is one of my favorite scenes. You know... That whole bit with Thats and Rath and Thats is yelling at him. :sighs again: I LOVED that scene. I was just... Awed. That was amazing. I envy him so much. (I was also like, "BOO-YAH! Kiss my ASS, you Thats bashers! Look at that! LOOK AT THAT! He's NOT some stupid idiot like you always pretend he is! HahahaHA! Kick ass! KICK ASS!" Hee hee. I was happy.) ...Maybe that's because I've got a pair of psychologists(Yes! I finally spelled that right!) for parents, but I really do envy him. God. I just wish I was able to do that.

:n:

I'm actually a little scared to post this chapter. I don't know how people will react to it. I know it's stupid, as this is a chapter right in the middle of my story, and nothing graphic happened, and there weren't any unexpected plot twists, and I didn't kill anyone off... Wait, that would be a plot twist, wouldn't it? ::runs around in circles:: Aaaarrgh! I tried so hard to get this to work, but I can't quite get it, and I know people are gonna complain, but I need to post this today, and... ::trails off into incoherent rambling as the readers get bored and go off to read someone else's story::

Please review?

And yes, I meant to say "morbid"... ::shifty eyes::


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights! I went as Fire for Halloween, so I own a costume of him, but I still don't own Dragon Knights!

Warnings: Minor language, school dances, THATCHEL! non

Dedication: This is dedicated to Animegoil for her LOVELY Thatchel in "Lost in a Memory", one of her absolutely brillient stories posted on Thank you for honoring ThatsxKitchel by letting them grace the pages of your gorgeous fic! (And in such a brillient scene, too! It's still stuck in my head!)

A/N: Holy... I wrote this in one day. oO; On election day, actually. ...Hmm... Maybe all that election voting energy that inspired me... Oo;

:n:

:To his half-hearted request:

Thats looked around him.

Empty bleachers, vacent spaces, as far as the eye could see.

He slid back down to sit on the cool metal bench, a bored grin propping up his life.

Briefly he wondered how good it could be to feel one's sanity slipping away through outstretched fingers, complete with the knowledge that if one were to close their hands, tightening their grip, then the last few drops would dissapear in their entirity.

The night world tightened around the small school gym, closing out all other aspects of the world.

Suddenly tired of the empty vacuum, he laughed, a surprisingly warm sound in the air, chilled with excess emotions. Not just his, but those of the people surrounding him, drenching his oxygen with tainted sorrow.

"No one to ask."

Thats said the words out loud, a more tangible reminder of the earlier night. He repeated them, rolling the syllables along his tounge, slipping them out past his lips in a fluid, carefree motion.

"No one to ask."

Well, that was true.

The normally crowded edges of the room were eerily empty, as if all the students had finally got up the balls to venture out into the uncharted waters of the center. At last braving the pitch of waves against creaking wood, little boats drowned at sea by storm, finally emerging victorious upon new found shores.

He smirked to himself, leaning back against the seat behind him. Scanning the crowds he caught brief sight of Rune, quickly vanishing into the masses once more.

"Never thought it would end this way," he laughed out loud to himself, "Man, this is messed."

His lips twitched upwards into a teasing grin, running through lists of questions and jabs to set before his missing friends. Brown hair fell into his face and he automatically pushed it out of peridot eyes, still shining with a teasing mirth. He never faltered in his movements.

It was curious.

The audiance had left, but the silken cutains remained up: the show was still on.

"Geeze," he sighed, "This is boring."

Thats slouched, drooping down onto the bleachers, slightly-too-long bangs falling back into his face.

He chased visions of the time spent that night with his friends through his mind, rinsing the dust off, stacking them away.

"No one to ask."

A thoughtful look ran across his face, absentminded acting drawing through his mind.

"Maybe I'll go outside..."

The silent glare of lights was suddenly chipped, then broken by another voice, raised in carefree tones.

"I wouldn't advise that."

He jumped at the unexpected words, spinning around to search for their source.

His eyes lit upon another pair, bright green, crystalized in amber light, untarnished in their bronze setting. Kitchel spoke again.

"It's really boring out there."

Words whirled through his mind, fluid phrases, none soild enough to grasp.

And the actors faltered.

"K-Kitchel?"

She grinned at him, crossing her arms across the cool surface of the elevated seats, her face level with his legs.

"It's really boring out there," she repeated, glancing over her shoulder, pouting slightly, then turned back to him.

"They all suck at poker."

He snickered, relaxing minutely, "Yeah? That bites."

"I know!" Kitchel complained, dropping her head down onto her arms, "I won a lot, though," she added more cheerfully.

"Cheated, I suppose."

He rolled his eyes to the cealing, taking his gaze off the viewers.

There was no response in the silent theater.

Thats brought his head back down quickly, looking to where the girl had been standing.

An empty space.

He felt himself staring, mouth slightly open.

No one was there.

No one to ask.

"What was that?"

His whole body jerked, senses coming back to life-and with them a sense of sheer stupidity. The student spun around, coming face to curious face with a young teenaged girl, cinnamon hair framing her delicate features and questioning clover eyes.

"What did you say?"

Thats shook himself out of his startled state.

"Um, I--"

He found himself cut off again.

Kitchel sighed, cupping her chin in her hand and propping her elbow up on her bare leg where it now rested on the bench.

"God, I'm bored."

She spoke without bitterness towards the dancing couples, simply stating a fact. If indeed she felt otherwise, it was hidden behind her playful face, currently drawn into a pouting frown as she chewed her lip, mind already wandering elsewhere. Kitchel may have abruptly changed the mood several occasions that night, but she had been without any malicious intent each time.

After all, it was just a game.

Now that one looked at it, there was not much difference between her reality and his.

Thats looked at the girl next to him, an idea flickering in his eyes.

It wasn't a new one, not quite. There was no shock of realization, no electric impulse of sudden knowledge. But then there was no tentative feeling of aged wishes finally spoke, either.

Just a formation of truth, created by lies, written into the falseified rules supporting his world, his show.

For one last scene, neither breathed a word.

Then movement.

Thats picked up his altered script, stretched, yawned, and spoke.

"So... You wanna dance?"

:n:

Sarehptar: :evil laugh: You asked for it... Thats and Kitchel. Best pairing ever. And, yes, they're getting their dance.

Elfin Kagome: Glad you got it. Elxclimation points are fun!

Hououza: Yeah... That is rather important... Happy birthday!!

Lady Kilgorn: Hey... I wrote it, at least. And I did the salient points, too. Nyahh!

Yokai Cesia(And Chi): Is this better?

Ojosnegro: I told you... Right? Think I did.

Shining Cresent Moon: Thanks! Neat name!

Capella: Really? Wow, thanks! :snickers: Thatchel wave? You're riding it. Meh, well... I liked it... But I do agree... Yeah.

:n:

Hee.

Thatchel.

Please review?


	10. Chapter 10

Ack, migod. So sorry! ::bows japanese style: I tried to get this up yesterday, but wouldn't let me in... I'm so sorry!!

:n:

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. Seriously. If I did... Let's just say I've been waiting for my Thatchel since book five...

Warning: Fwuff? Um, no swearing this time, actually. Oh. After this chapter, there's a swear word, said by me. :sweatdrop: Hysterical laughter by the authoress. No A/N up here, look for it at the end...

Dedication: Dedicated to Disgruntled Peony. For her really sweet thatchel from a long while ago. And because I found her on Gaia. Whoot.

:n:

:And they held on:

The night was cold. Brisk air came from the north, heralding the arrival of autumn. The winds brushed all clouds aside, leaving the dark to be consumed by stars and mirage filled constellations.

In the midst of the shimmering glory, a small faded light shone, reflecting through the sturdy walls and out the windows of an ordinary school gym.

Dull and lackluster compared to the shining balls of blazing light, but loved and hated and feared and trusted and scorned and appreciated in it's own way. In a way the heavenly stars never could be.

For although the night orbs held wishes and dreams, their nearer companion held their pain and realization.

It held, for at least one moment in a vast spinning universe, their love.

Inside the gymnasium, beneath the overriding sound, one pair of jade eyes widened in a silent string of misfiring synapses.

Kitchel felt her vision shift back to it's normal form and her jaw lose it's slackness, mouth ending it's slightly open phase.

"So... You wanna dance?"

The words echoed across the noise of the music.

"What?" her voice pealed into slightly hysterical laughter, "Dance?"

Even in the darkened corner, far from the tempting glow of the center, it was easy to see the uncomfortable dust that settled over the boy still standing next to her.

"Uh," he flushed slightly, trying hard to beat back the color that was rising to his cheek bones.

Thats glanced down at the teenaged girl, seated on the bleachers, propped up by her tanned arms resting on the row behind her. Her startled face was trained onto his, tilted upwards, shoulder length hair falling down in a silken curtain behind it. Polished mahogany strands barely brushing their tips against her fair flesh.

He turned his sight back up to carelessly stare across the moving swirls of students lost in a dance encrypted upon the night air.

"Unless..." he shifted his voice to match his stance, bass with a carefully crafted casual poise.

Normality in double illusions.

"Unless you don't want to. Of course."

He started to glance nervously down at her, wishing that, in a brief moment of poetic justice, the earth would split under his feet, sending him tumbling head over heels into it's crushing embrace.

About to speak more, to fuel his wish, he fell suddenly silent.

His hand was no longer hanging clenched and shaking by his side, but was instead warmed, grasped. It was held in a sunlit glow, one foreign in his darkened night.

Surprised, Thats turned to look down upon his captor.

Green eyes brimming with excitement and mirth bound him to the spot more effectively than the firm grip did.

"What?"

Kitchel grinned.

"That's just what I mean. 'What' are you talking about? Come on."

She pulled herself up with his arm, standing next to him on the same row.

"The song's already started. If we're lucky, there'll be another one afterwards," she tugged impatiently on his hand.

The girl turned around to teasingly smirk up at him, a voice starting to trickle through her conciousness, planting a wordless idea.

After all, it was just a game, one played many times before.

"Unless you don't want to. Of course."

Realization hit the other in the face, and Thats gave a roguish grin.

He took a leap, hurtling down two rows of metallic benches to stand in front of her.

It was a game constantly won.

Their grip tightened, and the light took on a golden hue.

"Let's go."

But instead of constantly playing to win, she was, for once, playing to lose. Placing her bets on the least likely slot, agreeing to odds overwhelmingly against her. She was preparing herself for a loss capable of setting her private world aflame, but at the same time...

She was somehow more certain of her upcoming success than she had ever been, even when riding along the white-tipped crest of good luck and fortune.

Her elated smile broadened.

"Great."

:n:

A/N: :ducks: Don't hurt me, please. :sweatdrop: I know people are getting impatient, but, trust me, I've actually got this planned out. It's one chapter on each to introduce them, one chapter on each for the asking/accepting, and then one chapter on each pairing for the actual dancing. Plus one more to tie it all up. :sweatdrops again: What? There were a set number of lines in the part of the song I wanted to use, and this was the only way I could get it to fit... Just wait for RuxTint, then you can watch the dancing bit... :shifty eyes:

:n:

Harbinger Loki: n-n Glad you guys liked it. :snickers at the thought of Thats and Kitchel reading that chapter:

Sarehptar: :sweatdrop: Short chapters? Yes... Sorry about that!

Capella: Glad you thought it was nice. Yes... I normally get a chocolate advent calender, but I couldn't get my hands on one this year. :pouts: Oh, sweet. Your winter break started at the same time as mine!

Hououza: Really? Wow... Must remember to mention my birthday around here... Didn't realize so many people would actually remember!

Elfin Kagome: A Dragon Knights... What?! Wow! :interested: How are you going to do that?? Will you be filming yourselves, or will you actually be drawing everything? Will you be drawing from the books, taking panels and stuff and then adding in the movements inbetween individual panels? Or will you be doing it in your own style? The style changes during the books... Will you be doing that too? Or will you be sticking with just one? I'd recomend Books 11 and 12, just because those look the best, I think. Unless there's a certian era of DK that you can draw better, then go for that. HOW will you be drawing it? Plain pencil and paper, or computor stuff? How will you figure out what color everything's supposed to be? Or will you just leave it in black and white? What about the sound effects? Will you be recording them straight onto the tape, or getting them on a cassette or something and then playing them over? And what about background music? I don't think you should put a song behind everything, but some parts I think music would go nicely. Like, "Vindicated" works really well for that scene where Rath and Dark Cesia are fighting in Book Seven, starting from "You've got to be kidding me", all the way until Cesia's "I don't like you. I hate you. So go ahead and live life all you want." It's just the right length to get in all the fighting bits, and sounds appropriate, too. Hey, how are you going to get all the different voices? I mean, you can't just have two(or three) people doing ALL the different voices, because that would just be corney. You need at LEAST a dozen. You going to recruit people from your school? Or post an ad somewhere? If you do that, you might not be able to contact everyone in person, so you'll need to get their mailing address and send them a script of their lines and tell them to send you back a recording of them... Which reminds me... Are you going to do it straight from the books, or do a made up script? And if it's from the books, are you doing all of them? And all the scenes? Including the random bits like the "Dragon Knights: Dragon Corps" bit? Because that would be AWESOME. How will you decide who "plays" what part? I guess you'll just have them read off lines, right? Tell me more!! :has been planning this out for far too long: If you need scripts from the books, I've got all of one to eleven typed out! D

:n:

Please review? The button's there for a reason...


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights! I've got this habit of making people read them, but I don't actually own them! I also don't own the song "She Said Yes". Um... The dialogue, the actions... Not all of it is mine. :sweatdrop, shifty eyes: It's not used in any stories, though, so...

Warning: Fluff, as always, and shock. Why? ...I don't think we saw this one coming... What am I talking about? You'll find out soon enough... o-o :amazed:

A/N: Do not be fooled by the FREAKINGSHORT song quote for this chapter. This chapter is actually productive! And leaning towards the unusual. Okay, okay. Not really, but, still! It was a nice change from the ordinary.

((Capella... Ginsing... Why do I have a feeling you two brainwashed me into this? Ah, yes... It was the "Tintlett's #1 fan" and the bit about the knight in shining armor that did it...))

:n:

::For dear life::

Silence deafened the room.

It was a multitude of mechanical dolls, swaying and shifting, just out of step with the steady beat hidden behind the music's overbearing melody.

Moonlight was strewn carelessly over their rapt features, illuminating hauntingly similar expressions on the upturned faces, broken here and there by a quirk, a twisted upturning of the mouth, a pair of lips joined as if one with a flick of luminescent tongue. It touched the neon glow, reflecting, radiating, rebounding. They mixed in a nauseating display of heightened color and mutated senses.

Rune watched the others, uninterested, with his peripheral vision. He only paid them enough attention to assure that he would not brush against any of them as he walked.

They were unimportant.

Almost invisible in the horde, the blonde squeezed past them, careful not to knock into them and tear their shaky dreams. He was leaning over the edge of a precipice himself, after all, and bad karma was not going to help him any.

Stepping over a shattered silver shadow, it's shards like blades of iced mirror, he reached the thinning of the herds. His heart pounded more from nerves than exertion, the drop of cold sweat that trickled down the nape of his neck not from the forcibly steady walk across the gymnasium.

Visions of azure pools swum through his mind's eye, hedged with ringlets of bleached copper stardust.

Rune looked around, but Tintlett was no longer visible.

He had lost her gaze during his journey, the mass of bodies obstructing his view. Now searching for that moonlit ocean blue once again, he frantically looked over the bleachers, and found them to be, to his dismay, completely deserted.

Feeling the familiar chill wash over him once more, he forced himself to remain upright, to resist sinking to his knees in defeat.

To maintain some shred of dignity.

Not that he needed it anymore.

He'd arrived too slowly. He'd started too late. She was gone. Off dancing the night away with another suitor, a luckier, more deserving man. Someone who hadn't waited until the last minute; who'd had the nerve to speak to her, to ask her.

Escrew dignity.

His knees gave way, lower body crumpling beneath him. The wooden floorboards were solid beneath his falling weight.

If Rune had expected faces to turn and stare at him with a mixture of sympathy, embarrassment, and confusion, he was disappointed. The figures around him were spellbound in their own maze of emotions, with no need to add his to their heavy load. Strangely alone in a crowd, Rune felt a rising tide of pathos and guilt threaten to drag him asunder.

The tainted light reflected in their eyes surrounded him in an eerie incasing, highlighting his whereabouts.

Footsteps echoed across the glazed floor, ringing unnaturally loud. A dim gray shadow fell across his body, a shimmering shield warding off the outer world.

He felt the student above him waver, debating whether or not to bend down beside him.

One of my friends, he ruefully noted, Come to offer me their pity.

He stayed still, waiting for their concerned voice to break the thinning air, or for their footsteps to thankfully retreat, leaving him to gather his pride in grateful privacy.

And it was with a start that he heard a soft female voice speak into the heightened silence.

"Rune?"

Blue irises widened in shock, and he slowly tore his gaze from burning a hole in the sweat-slick floor to stare up at the figure above him.

Tintlett gave a warm smile.

She extended a smooth hand, offering help in rising to his feet, and he took it, clasping it firmly as if making sure it wasn't a mirage.

He slowly stood, eyes taking in the slim distance between them, noting the soft flush on her cheeks.

Heart beating uncertainly, Rune searched his suddenly locked lexicon for the proper words to say. This was an unexpected situation, and he wasn't sure how to react.

He was saved from speaking, however, by her interrupting his frantic inner monologue for the second time in as many minutes.

Teal eyes latched onto his own lighter versions, the rose coloring filling her face in further.

And something happened that Rune was not expecting.

Tintlett took a half step towards him, bending her knees in a half curtsy. One of her hands still held his and the other drew an imaginary skirt off the floor, pulling it away from the mixture of celestial shine and radioactive neon glow that saturated the room.

"May I have this dance?"

She spoke in a voice reminiscent of towers and dragons and castles, all torn out of the painted pages of a child's picture book. A voice carrying the weight of uncounted prior dreams and secret fantasies. Of a hopeful and star-wished love.

The words were simple, the phrase much overused. Their meaning, however, was not lost upon the quiet night.

And the music continued to play, the swirling bodies around them continuing to dance through stained glass. Overly romantic strands of sap-drenched lyrics wafted through the gymnasium, a mechanical blood red tint alighting upon many of their dreamy faces.

And hidden among all this jumble of smooth color and movement were two young students, surrounded by a pure silver glow and lost in a faerie tale fantasy.

:n:

Ohhh, yeah, no one saw that coming... :shifty eyes:

And all I can say is... Go Tintlett. n-n

...And Rune, too, I suppose... :shrugs:

:n:

Hououza: Technically they are on the dance floor, too! :takes good luck gratefully: Exam week... I think I'll need this.

Peophin-chan: n-n Off topic is always good. Oh, yeah, it is. Actually, Cernozura's book-bit in #13 was bloody irritating, but besides that it's really fun. :needs a life: Thanks! And more RxC is coming in two chapters.

Capella: I was wondering if anyone would catch the tie in... You catch the Book 5 references to boats and storms, too? Lol on the bit about Dark Cesia. I read the books out loud to my mom(:sweatdrop:), and I had so much fun doing Lim Kaana's lines from Book 17. I mean, that was a real change for me, because I -never- do things like that in real life. :does not crush on upperclassmen, rock stars, steadily dating people, etc: Oh, and I've been meaning to say this for a while... Okay, from a RuxTint fan's perceptive, that whole deal with Lim? Crappy. But, on the bright side, Rune DID call Tintlett his soul mate. :loves Rune for that:

Kat Ho: This "longer" for you? It wasn't so much a roll as a planned attack... :shifty eyes:

Harbinger Loki: I crack up every time I see your reference to Kitchel as a "nanny goat"... xDD Well, the attack is over, sadly. But... I'm thinking of doing it again next year, and in the mean time I've printed out both chapters of your story and am currently trying to deck out my Gaia aviator totally in green and gold. :is a freak: Plus, I was thinking of fixing up and adding on the original ending chapter for GMG as a flashback-thing... And maybe starting work on a second chapter to "Snow", only with Kitchel(And Delte, and Pyore, and Master, of course.) and taking place during the same time and going up to the spot where the original chapter ended. I've got a couple other ideas, too, but they either connect to some of my other current fics(Spanish class: A gold mine for Thatchel ideas.), or are still so vague that it's pointless to try and explain them. Remind me, though, and I'll be sure to have another Merry Thatchel Christmas party via !

Charna: Lol. Thanks. It's nice to wake up late. I woke up at one today, and that was only because I was forced to.

Lisasa: Awesomely! That's a... Really awesome word!! Aaah... Remind me... I've got your Christmas pressy... I just keep forgetting to give it to you. ;-;

:n:

Mm!! Question!

Exams this week... Math exam... Math equals bad... Which DK(Or, for that matter, LOTR or G-Wing...) character knows math and is good at it? Pyore seems to know a fair amount, same with Hilde, but they only help if I make them a shrine on every freaking page, and that takes a while since they are picky and the shrine has to actually look nice. Alfeegi would probably be good, but I've never tested him before, and would like to know if he actually knows his stuff before taking him into a test. Rune and Tintlett also appear to be okay, but only okay, and I'd prefer someone really GREAT... Any help?

(And before anyone suggests these characters... I have learned the hard way that Thats, Kitchel, Duo, and especially RATH rather SUCK at math. Actually, only Rath sucks. The others just aren't very good.)

So... Suggestions?


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: You know? I don't feel like saying this today. I think I'll make Zoma do it, just for old times sake. :pushes Zoma out on stage:

Zoma: H-huh! Wh-what? Oh... Um... Ally-chan does not own "Dragon Knights". Th-that means that she doesn't own Rath, Thats, Rune, Tintlett, Cesia, Kitchel, or any of the other characters who may be spotted dancing in the background.

:coughs: Dragon Fighters rule:coughs:

Zoma: ...Um, yeah. Oh! And she doesn't own me.

Very good, Zoma. :Pulls him off stage and gives him a cookie- Powerbar. Gives him a Powerbar.:

Warning: Hmm. This is Tintlett's official chapter, so there won't be any swearing, sexual implications, nudity, drug use, or violence. Nothing, then, besides the usual weird writing style. :D Oh. And fluff. nn

:n:

:'Til the last song played:

The sand ticked away.

A large clock, hanging on the gym wall, slowly recorded the history of time playing out before it. Its dulled black rim and dirty white center supported the eleven numbers (the fourth had come unglued) pulled back in a dance of their own through it's center.

A minute gone.

Its only color, a spark of crimson red, now barely visable in the poor light, darted through the larger polar shades.

The second hand moved forward another moment, marking off the past, watching the present, never quite catching up to what was to come.

There was glance of hand on hand, a tugging step backwards.

Another minute brushed by, and a young couple situated themselves on the dance floor.

Awkwardly stepping around the others already gathered, Rune found himself being led, gently tugged, onwards. He followed willingly, a dream-like daze still settling over him.

Tinlett stopped.

They now stood in a small opening, barely wide enough to allow the two access. A skipped beat, and the dynamics rose, the now endless melody rising higher.

She gave a soft, still nervious, smile.

And he bowed in return, his hand shifting underneath hers, and raised the back of her palm to his mouth in a mere brush of lips on flesh.

She almost laughed at this daring show of chivalry, but satisfied herself with retrieving her hand from his touch, forcing him back upright. Stepping closer in the imagined spotlight, her heart winged upwards.

A brief shuffle of limbs, and Tintlett made another move, smoothly reaching up and placing her steady hands on his shoulders, grasping them lightly.

A flutter in the sands of time, and his hands were touching her waist.

Another glimpse, and they had caught up to the soft, lulling beat of music, mimicing the so many students around them.

Moving slightly to the soft tune, Tintlett found a small part of her mind whispering of ballroom dances and fancy steps, not this childish arythmic swaying. She silenced it, telling it that there would be time for that.

Later.

There would always be time.

Another moment was recorded, another couple blushed, another spoke in lighthearted tones, another left the dance floor for the realtive privacy of the outside air.

But they stayed, their private hourglass paused in the act of shifting sand from one minute to the next. Peculiar white grains, so soft, lay in midair around them: Captured.

And perhaps it was just the dust, flitting through the moon beams and light beams of neon brightness, but she felt a weight lift off of her, her already light heart loosing the rest of its burdens. A soundless, numberless, timeless dream seemed set into motion.

Ironic, as motion had lost it's meaning.

Tintlett felt her lips curve up into a soft smile of their own accord, felt her form move closer to his, felt her arms bend and slide further up his neck to hold him softly against her body.

Felt the heat rise to his cheeks, and felt his hands in turn pull her closer.

And she watched as the sand glittered around them, keeping watch over one last minute in their fragile hourglass.

Tick.

A crimson streak moved across the luminesent shimmer, and pearly-white star flakes began once more to drift to the ground.

:n:

Oh! And before any one makes any comments... I'd like to draw your attention to what Tintlett brings up. This is NOT a formal prom of any sorts. This story is simply about one of those school dances... You know, those things you go to with your friends (and possibly dates), but that don't recieve the sort of attention or significance as an actual prom. I believe I got comments on that before, so I just wanted to clarify.

:n:

Yokai Cesia(And Chi): Yup. n-n I know... I thought it would be in this chapter or later...

Hououza: o-o :GLOMPS: You! You are the bestower of the 92nd review! That means this fic now has the most reviews out of any of mine:realized this while "studying" for math exam: You... I need to give you something... I've been waiting for this day for a long time... :gives Mr. Death Die: Yay! And... :eeps: Calc! Take a peek at my bio... I won't be doing Calculus for a VERY long time. :ever, if I can get away with it:

Knowwii: nn It's you! I love your little kitty ears on Gaia, btw.

Yume-chan(insaneoveranime): Ah, thanks for the explanation... Always nice to know when someone's name has changed... Why the change, though, may I ask? Not that I don't like it... :thinks it's very cute: XD Yes, yes... Very true.

The Shadowess:blinks: Thanks for telling me that. Not Alfeegi, then... Nor Metatuara... As he is one of the few characters that really piss me off. :mutters: Stupid butterfly. I ended up using Kharl and Heero Yuy. I love them now. :hugs:

Capella-;; I forced myself to wake up from a LOTR with Spanish subtitles and Spanish textbook cramming induced slumber(Spanish books... The nicest pillows out of all the textbooks out there... Very nice and soft... Don't even ASK about the messed up dreams I was having from that LOTR/Spanish binge, though. .;;; ), went to go check my e-mail, and found that review. Thank you! ...Faerie wings? I bet you do. non Nah, when I recieved this, it was still tuesday... Math test was on friday... Yes, go Tintlett! And that sig is still my favorite! xD

Sarehptar: n-n They are cute, aren't they? And now that I have Book 18, I can marvel at Tintlett's openminded-ness.

Charna: Haha... New semester... New teachers and subjects! And I just got my classes for next year scheduled! I'm gonna be taking ART:happy about that:

:n:

. That was short. :nervious laugh: So sorry, and I promise that the next thing I update will DEFINATLY be Fame and Fortune... :sweatdrop: Geez, it's been, what, four months now? nn;

So... Review?


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Me? Own? You've gotta be kidding.

A/N: I forget if I explained this... See note at end to clear things up on a change of chapter focus.

:n:

:They won't let go:

His hand curled around hers, an electric jolt traveling through the touching flesh. There was a tinge of night air to the tips of his fingers, one that was quickly fading by the warmth of her palm and grasping touch. Their skin blended as one being in two shades of pale and two intermingling blushes.

Rath was still staring at the ground, a furious flush reddening his cheeks and pounding his blood.

He wondered if she could feel it's replications in her touch.

Their footsteps sounded dully on the polished floor. Their bare feet made slight dusty imprints across the wooden boards.

Cesia aimlessly noticed that the floor was gritty under her feet, that a rouge feather was blowing by, that his hand was shaking ever so slightly in hers.

And that as she placed her heel down with another step forward, he was doing the same.

Spontaneous synchronization.

Her skin quivered.

He looked up at her, slightly confused about their next move.

How was this to work? Was he to explain himself? Was she to tell him what she wanted? Where were his hands to be placed?

Rath glanced around the crowd, but it helped him little.

Some of the young men had their hands on their partner's hips. Others, clasped loosely behind the girls they were dancing with, holding them close to their bodies. And yet a few more simply grasped their arms, keeping their dance partner at a more comfortable distance.

The teenaged girl noted his nervous swallow and barely bit back a grin.

She stopped walking, giving him a questioning look, one that he responded to with a curt nod of the head.

He looked so tense, she wasn't able but to notice, That if it weren't for the stumbling smile he managed to give her, she would think that he didn't want to be there.

But he did smile, Cesia marked, the single feather brushing against her bare feet, And it did appear genuine.

"I'm not going to eat you." She put on a smile braver than she felt, "So calm down, all right?"

He nodded again, but it was calmer, more relaxed. His dark eyes darted up to meet hers.

"You..." he tripped over his words, the blush that had been slowly fading from his cheeks returning in full, "You good with here?"

She beamed again, squeezing his hand briefly, still intertwined with hers.

The music continued to blare from the speakers, although it seemed muffled to both their ears.

Were either of them playing different parts in an unwritten and slowly woven script, there would have been comments of backstage speakers being dampened, of a lowered volume, or of a missed sound cue.

Were either of them alternate characters in a moonstruck world, a mention would have been made of droning static from neon lights, of a time proof shield of glass or of a fading into the evening's last starglow.

But as it were, neither of them fit any of those roles. He, a protesting, immature, badly flushing boy; she, a shunning, breaking, barely daring to hope girl.

Neither of them fit, and yet...

He found his left arm looped about her waist, she found her right draped around his shoulders. Their bodies pressed together, her head dropped perfectly onto his black-clad chest. The heat from his cheeks brushed against her dark silken hair, its softness grazing his face.

Their fingers stayed interlocked, neither fully realizing their grasp was still unbroken and held betwixt their swaying bodies, pressed against their touching chests.

The faded floorboards stayed motionless beneath their forms, dust and sand and hardened tears creating their roughened glaze. They remained utterly still as two hearts beat as one in perfect time.

Her grin faded into a genuine soft smile, his face slowly loosing it's reddened tinge.

And a lone white feather lifted up on a low breeze.

:n:

...And I can hear rats squeaking on the roof. :mood is totally broken:

:n:

Charna: o-o Yeah, that would require planning... "Accidentally in Love"? I HEART that song!

Peridot-chan: Yeah, I do know what you mean. She's just awesome, I suppose. Um. Trusting? No... She has a lot of faith in others, she believes that they will do the right thing. I suppose that's as close as I can get right now... Asked for RxC and it will come. lol. Nah, it was just their turn. But you got it anyway!

Hououza: ...It was just a few moments, wasn't it? Hm. Ah, well... Yes. :coughs: Things involving math and/or science are generally... How shall I put this? Crap. Utterly and completely crap. But thanks for the luck!

Shadowess:sweatdrop: Didn't I just update that? Anyway... I'll update sometime soon. I hope. Meep. Need to start working on that next chapter... :mega sweatdrop:

Capella: Time symbols -are- cool, aren't they? Book 18 rocked. Tintlett shown so much in that... 17 too, actually. And 16. All the recent ones, really. She's awesome once you get to actually SEE her in the series. "Tintlett"? I think it was originally spelled that way in the english releases. I think. Or maybe this is one of those tricks my mind plays on me. At any rate, it stuck. I'm glad you like it. :holds the wings up to a window so the light coming in will make pretty patterns on the floor:

Kat Ho: Link? Okay... Go to google and search for "Punks and Nerds" and "webcomic". You should get one of the funniest webcomics I've ever found. (And, No, Asa... It's not porn.)

FireyFlames: Fluff is good, isn't it? n-n

Bonny Fyfa: o-o :dies of shock: ... :shock is too great and is reborn: ...I can write FAN FICTION for it! n-n :luffs: I love your story, I love your cliffhanger, I love the "WOOF", because my dog was making noise outside right as I read it. XD ...And because you reviewed, I remembered that I had to work on this. :shifty eyes: See, people? Reviewing actually gets stuff accomplished...

:n:

Everyone see that last sentence up there. No. In the reviewer's note. See that? It's true. You know you want to review now.

Oh. And as of this chapter, I'm wrapping stuff up. Three more chapters to go. One each for Thatchel, RuxTint, and all three pairings.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. As I have said:insertnumberheretoolazytoolookupthissimplefactbadauthor: times before.

Warnings: Oddness as always. Minor swearing. Flipping images.

Note: And, as before... A little reminder. Last chapter was RxC, this one is Thatchel, next is RuxTint, then the finale. n-n Wrapping It Up: Stage II. Oh. And this song isn't insanely longer than most stupidly long slow-dance songs. This chapter cuts back to the middle of 12, and 13 takes place at around the same time.

:n:

The dance floor was eerily crowded.

Normally close to empty during such sap-laden songs, it was near packed. Hardly any bodies remained seated upon the painstakingly cold bleachers, and it appeared as though those outside had made a rare immigration into the gymnasium as well.

The notes of the gentle music rose a step higher, and two pairs of green eyes raised wry brows as they scanned the room's contents.

"Hey. Is that Rune?"

"And Tintlett."

Kitchel grinned, smug. "I told her he'd ask before the night was up."

Thats shook his head, slightly amazed beside himself.

"I could've sworn he'd chicken out."

"Hah," the girl still awkwardly clutching his hand laughed, "He probably did. Bets that she had to ask?"

"Hell yeah."

And so they talked, words forming casually on their lips, both attempting to improvise a scriptless act. Minimize was the word of the hour, and the two of them knew how to do just that.

"I couldn't see too well, but I think she was the one who approached him."

Her bronze rimmed eyes lit up, glistening a third-set green.

"So what, idiot? I was the one who came up to you."

Thats paused, startled at the truth to her words. An almost nonexistent flush traced over his cheeks.

Their voices sounded painfully dulled upon the backdrop of sweetened music and romance.

A glimpse out of place, a beat out of time, a world beyond that which they were trailing their steps in.

"This is as good a spot as any."

"Right," Kitchel nodded.

It was a desperate tearing of reality into facade.

And she bit her lip, trying to force the imitation back into the norm; nothing had changed.

"You know how to do this?"

"Not a damn clue."

"Good," he smirked slightly, "Same here."

And yet, he thought, That was what was wrong in the first place.

Somehow they had pulled back into normalcy. They were suddenly too like all the other actors on the stage, when to stand out in auditions one needs to be extraordinary.

She dropped his hand, standing before him.

"Ah..."

Her grasp shifted onto his upper arms, his to hers. And they stood, two feet apart in the semidarkness.

He coughed nervously.

"So, uh..."

Her gaze was stuck on the wooden floor, her thoughts on piecing together the faulted boards.

Improvisation required spontaneity, while what they were mimicking was nothing but a dry reading. She wasn't sure when the script had been placed into their hands, but...

...His bet was that it didn't belong to either of them. Thats felt a wry grin tugging at his lips. To be a gambler, one needed to be able to make decisions at the roll of a die, at the spin of a wheel.

This new being, they both agreed, was a sudden addition of too much hesitation. It was a shoddy bluff, far from invisible, and nothing to the carefree ease of before.

Lines tossed to the metaphor-stained ground, he took a step closer.

And a red curtain fell to a whispering brush of lips.

:n:

Hououza: ...It's FULL:impressed: Wow. I must remember to check out your bio next time I'm searching for a fic to read... Computing... Eh. I don't think that would work out so well for me, either... :blinks: 14. 14? That's... A lot. o-o Who, like random telemarketers?

Peridot-chan:big eyes: The pretty, pretty name... Forgetful equals Ally. :shifty eyes: And research reports equal evil.

Kat: I really do like your stuff. Honestly. And:waves hands frantically: you don't have to apologize! Really! I swear I honesttoKharl'sstolenlavenderlacypanties don't mind! Stuff from people I don't actually know is more... Uh... What's the word I'm looking for? Amusing? No. Um. Weird? Shocking? Trippy? I have no clue. I hope you get the point, though. God knows I wouldn't. :sweatdrop:

Capella: n-n I liked that bit myself. I'm not too sure why. The feather reminded me of this one time the popular girls took feather boas to the school dance and got up on the speakers and offered to freak with any boy, so about half the guys started lining up to dance with them... :coughs: Yeah. But that has nothing to do with anything...

Sarehptar: Hmm. Now that I think about it, your name sounds like a type of bird. Some type of pheasant, I think. :sweatdrop: As before, it's okay... :waves off:gives birdie cotton candy as present for chirping:


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Star-light, Star-bright... First star I see tonight... Wish I may... Wish I might... Own the deeds to Dragon Knights...

Warnings: What? Warnings? Um, fwuff? Uh, minor swearing in dedication? Major references to Tintlett's first chapter? o-oa

A/N: Wrapping It Up: Part Three. Last "split" chapter, one final thing after this to tie it all together.

:n:

They lit a flame with the match God made

:n:

High overhead beams supported the roof of the gymnasium. They were made of welded metal, coated with paint or insulation or fine flakes of rust. Stretching across the ceiling, crisscrossing and intertwining, they ran past the thick walls and small moon-tinted windows that hedged in the distracted students.

And were totally, completely, entirely ignored.

Serving to keep rubble off of the dancers, most cast them naught but a passing upwards glance; some didn't even give them that.

After all, they held nothing to see.

The song hit its final crescendo, rising to a high petulant note that slowly faded off into the distance of shifting feet and breathy talk.

And as that last wave washed through the air, that last tremor of momentary insubstantial certainty faded back into a questioning pause, Rune dropped his arms from Tintlett's waist.

She stepped back, letting go of him as well.

Her eyes never did release him, he noticed. The liquid waters within them were no longer shining with rising light, but swirled with dusk: with the moment halfway between blinding night and breathtaking day.

They seemed deeper.

And Rune mentally laughed. He shoved aside the sudden arbitrary and unable to be worded notion that if he was to sail upon them... That a falling wish written on paper and tied to a trailing star could sink into their depths, slowly fading away, but never reaching their limits. The idea was amusing, but he found himself unable to either grin or voice it for her benefit. He was sinking, falling, losing himself in vision. And, he would have been pleased to note, were he not so frozen in the instant, She was meeting his gaze.

Tintlett felt as though to breathe would be to fill to the brim a container, primed for overflowing from the sudden influx of emotions. She watched through half-lidded eyes as the world paused, each desperately needed heartbeat pulsing away the heightened senses while simultaneously growing in tension. Her blood rushed in her ears: a sin, it seemed, in this static moment. Her mind was lost in the still-present heat of his touch on her skin, of the scent of his chest, of the near-tears that blurred her inner-vision when she dared to close her eyes.

Bodies moved around them like nameless supporting characters in a charade, providing but a mere background for the leading roles.

Rune hesitated, one hand caught in the act of reaching out to to her: To do what, he couldn't say. Clasp her arm? Brush over her face? Take her shivering hand in his?

And her eyes glanced to the ground, taking in sightlessly the cracks and fine dirt and varnish beneath her feet.

He drew back at her movement, red flame suddenly leaping to his cheeks in an unaccustomed fashion.

A hint of pink came to her face as well, and her mouth lost its soft open gasp, settling firmly into a determined half-pout.

Then she looked up at him, pulling his sight to her's, slowly immersing herself in his widened blue eyes, freed of mists for a startled clear spring. His golden hair framed his face, a couple rouge strands slipping past his gaze.

Tintlett stepped forward, almost tentatively brushing them to one side with a slow but controlled touch. Her hand paused at the warm skin of his face, and she felt her breathing hitch and heartbeats quicken. Then deliberately at first, so much so that for an agonizing moment she though that she might not be moving at all, Tintlett leaned up towards Rune and pressed her lips into his.

Any imagined dying echoes of sound dissolved completely, disappearing into the high iron beams. The supports themselves seemed to fade, as roofs overhead passed out of knowledge and walls, floor, bleachers, foundations, students, time was forgotten.

Moonlight shattered, veiling the senses with the sudden realization of its twin, glossing over the world with a memory of perfect windows and star-drenched night.

But down below, a loose sheet of white paper sunk down into a mesmerizing dream, inken-scribed wishes absorbing into the dim of a single, slowly rising sun.

:n:

Capella:blinks: ...It got cut off... T-T But, yes. Acting is awesome. n-n So there was a brief mention in here. :nodnod: Um... The rest of your note is at the top of this. :points:

Hououza: Mediaminer... Never been there before. :sweatdrop: Rambling reviews are good. They're the only type I send... :larger sweatdrop: And yes, that did make sense. That's one of the things I love about them. nn

Peridot-chan: Well, it shall never change for me, either. Only... Not... :slightly confused: Yeah. You get it. I hope. Haha... I believe you were the second one to say that. XD Endings are awesome, and I'm still smacking myself upside the head for not making a name like yours. Why do you have it, btw?

Sarehptar: Cheerleader:cracking up: That's one funky mental image... :imagining random cheerleader popping up behind them next to the bleachers: o-O;

Timeless13: Hehehe. I'm going to have to agree with you on all your points there. And if you ever want more Thatchel, have fun looking through the stuff I posted last December... :innocent:

Crysta Renishi:sweatdrop: I know, there's a long story behind my spelling his name the Japanese way... Almost as pointless as my spelling "Tintlett" with two "t"s. :mega sweatdrop: ...I don't think you'll ever actually see this note, though, so I'm just gonna leave it at that.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Man, if I owned Dragon Knights, Kawaiikon would actually sell DK stuff... I'm still irritated about that...

Warnings: Uh... Fluff? Go back and look at the first chapter again, just briefly before you read this... :had fun with that: Actually, if you get really bored, try find all the different references to things from previous chapters. XD I had a little TOO much fun with this...

A/N: It's all over. T-T Yes, that's right. This story is finally finished. And She Said Yes is the my most played song, because of my putting it on repeat as I type on this. See? It's playing right now.

Well, I'm going to ramble up here for a bit because... Well... I finally finished a longer fic. :happy:

If anyone remembers, I started this last summer when in Germany. Because I was bored and suffering fanfiction withdrawals. I thought that posting the final chapter at the beginning of this summer would be appropriate, so here it is.

The first day of summer vacation and the last chapter of this story.

I'd like to take this opportunity to both give a BIG thanks to everyone who reviewed, and again to Kat for posting the first couple chapters for me. This story has the most total reviews out of any of mine, and I'm really amazed at how some of you have been here from the very first posting.

Basically?

I love you all.

No, really. I do.

And to prove it, I'm keeping a promise I made in SSY's original summary.

See?

I do love you.

:n:

When She Said Yes

:n:

That particular night was anything but silent.

While music no longer blared festively, the lighthearted chatter was now a rumbling surge as the student body poured out of the two open doors of the old school gymnasium. Neon lights lit up the commonly trodden pathways outside the building. Trails of pupils raced past them, winding in groups of threes and fours, talking excitedly about that night's past events, and shivering in the sudden cool air. Streamers of crepe paper danced in the rush, a rouge strand fluttering down from the green and white curtain that marked the gaping doorways. A water fountain was strategically stationed nearby, still surrounded by flushed and talkative young teenagers, waiting their turn in line while exchanging teasing jabs and ecstatic squeals of information.

Inside the gym, the main lighting system was flickering on, the dim glow of the prior hours fading away into the background with the memory of the music. The dense shadows along its extremities vanished into the sudden light, empty metal bleachers glinting in the false-sun. The flash brought with it the instant shock of realization, the questioning thought of "what now?"

And of the students still remaining in the building, some of them were better at handling it than others.

As a drifting white feather swirled off to one side of the room, Rath took a step back. The blush that had vanished almost completely from his easy-to-redden face jerked back in full at the realization that Cesia's hand was still in his.

He felt his blood rise, bringing warmth to his face, and was reminded vaguely of how not five minutes ago he had felt a similar battle of fire and ice: of how the orange edges of light had danced just out of his grasp. The darkness... The chill...

It wasn't gone.

But it was pushed further back for a moment in time.

And Rath felt for a fleeting moment as though he could reach out and physically pull down the power that seemed to dart around their forms; that he could hold a glistening sphere of flame in his palm.

His slight smile broadened, and Cesia took note of it, watching distractedly as her own face lit up into a beaming grin.

For a darting second, she could see fully into his mind, further than just the deepened emotions that were usually available to her.

She felt light, weightless, airy, free.

Free to fly up forever into the star-crested night, no restraints upon her body.

And she found herself talking lightheartedly in the sudden reality, speaking out loud even as she wondering silently what reality really was, anyway.

Her voice was clear in the emptying gym.

"It's not like this really matters."

Rath started, staring at her, completely bewildered.

The faded floorboards beneath their feet watched his faltering form. Dust and sand and hardened tears created their roughened glaze and they stayed silent, waiting.

Cesia smiled, relishing the feeling of ice cracked through with a golden glow, and spoke again, her words softer.

"We still have time."

He felt himself talking, felt the shaky whispered words spilling over his quickly moving lips, felt his hand tighten around hers. Felt their hearts beat as one in a spontaneous synchronization.

"I... I want..."

Twin battles raged within his mind, a swirling vortex of fire and ice, each hissing their own conflicting and defensive messages. They roared to a head...

And devoured each other, exploding into a suddenly tense urge, taunt with desire and the shattering of the restraining spell of confusion and dark into millions of tiny shards. They were as pinpricks of light in the velvet sky, scattering into the distance.

Reality was now.

Black hair edged his vision as Rath suddenly pulled her closer to him, crushing his mouth to her own, slightly opened in a pure shocked surprise. They both felt her startled gasp, and the rush of red flame as Cesia wrapped her free arm across his shoulders, pressing her body up firmly against his.

And the lone white feather lifted up on a low breeze as two joined hearts winged their way upwards, stealing through the vanishing cheap tinfoil that had previously encircled them in a barred cage of steel.

That particular night was anything but silent.

Nervous laughter wracked the suddenly illuminated gymnasium as Kitchel, once frozen, stepped back, feeling the sudden and unaccustomed flush on her face.

While she had been begging for a... Chance, a bet, an improvisation, she had not been expecting his innocent brush of lips or her out of character reaction.

And this, some far corner of her mind noted, Was not the poker face she had readied.

It was just a game.

She started talking out loud, her ramblings becoming more and more audible, though still muted.

A game constantly won.

"It's just a friggin' dance. Who cares? I don't."

"No worries. No tears, no pain..."

A voice started to trickle through her consciousness, whispering of unnecessary bluffs; of lies of full house when one already held a royal flush.

And she fell suddenly silent.

This was a glimpse out of place, a beat out of time, a world beyond that which they were supposed to be trailing their steps in.

Where she had earlier felt the most certain she had ever been in her life, she was shaken. This edging out into unknown waters was unnerving, and she remembered the truth behind the prior emulated freedom.

It hadn't been a game she was forced into, but one of her own choosing.

And this...

Then her mind drifted slowly to not the liplocked teenagers breaking the school's PDA rules, but the young boy, red in the face, tentatively holding his hand out to the girl at the water fountain.

And Kitchel took a deep breath, ignoring the script, the lines, the dry reading, and stepped closer once again, her green eyes now shining teasingly.

She gave a sudden laugh: shaky but meant.

"...Great."

As she had stepped back, he had jerked away as well, clenching his hand into a tight fist and giving his head a tight, controlled shake, sending the longer autumn colored segments of his hair flying.

He had muttered, "Damn stupid," running his hand through his hair in an of-used nervous gesture, pressing the ball of his hand into the bridge of his nose for a moment, then dropped it.

Thats smiled coldly, four syllables running through his mind for the umpteenth time that night. He spoke to himself, ignoring her slightly frantic ramblings, rolling the syllables out into the tainted oxygen.

"No one to ask."

His hand shook slightly and he continued to speak, absentminded acting drawing through his mind.

It was curious.

"Maybe I'll go outside..."

It was then that he heard her speak warmly and directly to him, his eyes lighting upon her own smiling ones, crystalized in amber light.

"...Great."

Kitchel spoke again.

"Come on. Unless you don't want to, of course."

Thats felt a wry grin tug on his lips. To be a gambler, one needed to be able to make decisions at the roll of a die.

He took her hand once more. This time, their grip was relaxed.

The red curtain fell for one last time.

"Let's go."

That particular night was far from silent.

Fear had been spread thickly across the room.

It had created a wave of tension that washed across the shaking floor, drenching all that it touched, drowning lost souls beneath its icy currents.

A lucky few had been spared of the rushing spray, and a few more had managed to claw their way out of it.

Sea salt and salty tears dried and flaked off in the newly rising sun, evaporating in the appearing warmth.

While many drifters had latched on to the falsified images of captured suns in glass-spun cages and fire burning in translucent boxes, a few had managed to stumble across their own sunrises.

The dark of the outside night was cast with beaming stars, ones not constricted by cages or wrapped in glass. And some of the perfect white orbs had found themselves drawn down by a trailing wish, sinking into deepened blue pools.

Harbingers of dawn, of morning, of sun.

Dreams of golden cloudless skies and fields of fallen stars placed back into the shadows of simple fantasies still ran rampant in this strange limbo. They were captured and held safe, preventing souls from departing and leaving behind naught but mechanical dolls.

Faerie tale fantasy and pure silver glow was still needed in this changing hour, if to a lessened degree.

They fueled the drifting sands, paused in the act of sliding from one minute to the next. Peculiar white grains, so soft, lay in midair: Captured.

And Rune and Tintlett slowly parted.

Neither was looking straight at the other, both searching for a conceptual form of this strange intermediate space, of the moment before sunrise and the lull before the rush. Her gaze finally trailed back to his eyes, searching questioningly for recognition.

Blue met blue.

And yet... They seemed deeper.

He smiled tentatively at her, dropping his still-reaching arm down to his side.

Tintlett dipped her head very slightly in return, taking first one, then two slow steps backwards.

Their heads swirled with white-winged stars and paper-folded dreams and stopped glass bottles marked with faint scratchy inscriptions of both Luna and Sol.

Both were frozen for a long moment.

And then she turned, bare feet padding quietly on the varnished floorboards as she ran quickly across the near empty room, hurrying after her vanishing friends.

Her light voice rang out in the evaporating silence.

"Wait, Cesia!"

There was a faded crash and, outside, the full moon dipped slowly behind the gymnasium.

:n:

Hououza: Rambling is always good. n-n So it's nice for me that you ended up doing it by mistake anyway. XD I love that quote, by the way. "Being the only male here, the estrogen levels are making me nervous." Too bad I'll never be able to use that...

Ojosnegro: Eep... Just had my Spanish final... I keep impulsively wanting to add an "s" to your name... Aw! You need to read 14! ...Actually, I didn't care for 14-18 all that much. I mean, sure, they all had some good moments, and you really need to read them all before 19 so that it makes more of an impression on you, but... 19 was good, though. You need to read it!

Peridot-chan: I think I explained the name thing in some other fic... :ponders: Yeah, I did. I just don't remember which one. XD But it was in response to one of your other reviews, and I just decided to add it in. And haha. I didn't have to add anything for my aim account. :P No worries... This last chapter had a bit of everyone. :nod: So you didn't need to beg. And RxC actually got the longest segment. :was trying to make them all about the same:

Charna: Fluff is good, no? n-n I mean, it gets annoying if it's all you read and all, but... Every so often it's really nice. n-n

:n:

As before, a big THANKIES to all of you. non

And I'm going to take a brief moment down here to say something...

Now that I'm finished with SSY, I'm going to be starting something else that I've been really wanting to get around to for a while. Ever wonder what would happen if you change one point in DK, make it work out the way that... Well, in this example, the way Kharl wanted it to? It's the Butterfly Effect: everything else gets twisted. Okay, now take that and toss in an old dream I had and that 20 Theme challenge from LiveJournal.

That's what I'm going to be working on next.

In between updating everything else, of course(hopefully...)!

So, uh... Wish me luck on that, I suppose. :sweatdrop:

Mucho amo to everyone who actually got this far, and please review!


End file.
